Re: firearms aboard your boat
How many people really keep a lawyer on retainer all the time? Besides if you say something like that the police will politely say OK have your car towed to the police station at your expense and take you to the station in handcuffs to give you time to call your lawyer. Then they will give you a telephone and a phone book and say go ahead. Of course if it's after hours no lawyer is going to answer the phone. And, even if it's during working hours how do you know which lawyer you should call. You only get one chance. Call the wrong one who doesn't want to take your case of is out when you call and your out of luck. The best most legal way to carry firearms on your boat, car, or person is to not do it. Then you don't have to worry about it. Remember, it's perfectly legal to get shot and killed. But, it's not legal to shoot and kill someone else. Even if there shooting at you.
First of all, you don't need to keep a lawyer on retainer, just keep his card in your wallet no reason to pay him until he performs a service for you. Second, without any evidence that a crime was committed, the police absolutely WILL NOT do that just because you ask for your lawyer to be present. Mostly because they would get fired, but they also don't want to get sued and they know by the fact that you're asking for a lawyer that you will sue if they do something illegal to violate your well established rights like that. They will do only 2 things, and by that I mean they may try #1 for a little while, but in the end they always end up doing #2, 1: wait for your lawyer to arrive, 2: decide that it's not going to be worth the wait because they know your lawyer will tell them to get a search warrant first, which they won't be able to get because they have no evidence that a crime was ever committed. Third, if your lawyer wouldn't answer the phone at 1 in the morning, you have the wrong lawyer. I don't know many lawyers that wouldn't answer their phone any time of day or night, but here's a hint for you, you're supposed to call their cell phone, NOT their office. As far as what type of lawyer to use, it almost doesn't matter. Although attorneys specialize in certain areas, all lawyers will have a much better general understanding of the law and what your rights are than you will. But even if you're a lawyer, you should also have your own lawyer. My lawyer is a divorce attorney. I’ve never been, nor do I ever plan to get divorced, but that’s who my attorney is because I like him and he’s well liked by most of the judges here. He did our wills and I’ve gotten out of a couple of traffic tickets by asking for him before signing for the receipt of the ticket. The minute you ask for a lawyer, they say to hell with it and move on. They can write 20 tickets in the time they would have to wait for your lawyer, and if you have a halfway decent lawyer, he’ll take at least 2 hours to get there. Ask me why and I'll give you an entire dissertation on the subject.
