When you go out do you carry your picks?

[Camarda]

Do you take your picks with you when you leave the house?

If someone got busted carriing picks what would the cops throw at you?

[Mini-Blue]

Yes, I always carry a few tools with me when I go out. They wouldn't help much if I needed them and they were sitting at home.

As to the legal ramifications of being "caught" with picks...

Do you get searched a lot?

I only ask because I'm over 40 years old and have never been "frisked" by a cop. Maybe it's just me.

On the other hand, it depends on where you live and what you do for a living.

If you're a Locksmith, you're not likely to have any problem.

If you're a "Picker" you may be hit with a charge of possession of burglary tools, contraband items, or any one of a half dozen other bad things.

Assuming you live in the US, do a web search for your area's Attorney General's website. They almost always have a searchable version of State Code (Laws) where a little bit of digging on your part will help you find the pertinent laws.

It's perfectly legal for me to carry the tools where I live and I know because I did the research myself. Go forth and do likewise, you'll sleep better knowing.

[SlimPickens]

Yea I carry them around whenever I leave the house. Despite the legality of carrying them in Canada, I find I can use them quite a bit

[joecool2727]

i never leave home without them

[Varjeal]

Ditto.

[puck]

I always bring mine with me. I checked up on my state laws, and possesion of burgulary tools only applies if they can show that you intend to steal something. That helps considerabally.

[macaba]

As i only have homemade picks, i make them wallet sized, so it just slips into my wallet, and because it goes diagonally into my wallet, they are still a decent size. also offers resonable protection agaist damage. so as i go everywhere with my wallet, therefore i go everywhere with my lock picks!

macaba

[robie]

I work for a rural county fire department in North Georgia and have a small "lockout" business on the side. I have found more times than I care to count when I needed my tools to unlock Mom's car at Wal-Mart because little Johnny locked the door before Mom could get the keys out. So know I carry a small set in my uniform shirt pocket at my "real job" and always keep a larger set in my truck. I have also convinced our fire chief to keep an auto lockout set in the fire trucks.

[totsie]

This topic is a little old but I got a story in texas. I was going to the court house to register my business and get an assumed name. To get in the court house you have to go through the metal detector and I had my home made pick and tension wrench in my wallet and when I put my wallet in the tray to run it through the xray machine they poped up big as hell on the screen and I got all scared.The cop asks me what they are and I told him what they were and we got into this big conversation about lockpicking and at the time I only knew a little about picking so I described it to him as much as I knew. Well he gave me a property reciept and told me to pick them up before I leave. I dont know the laws here but im going now to look them up. Later everybody.

[greyman]

To answer that question would be to incriminate yourself (assuming you're not a licensed locksmith)

[screamdud]

I never carry them on me but the one time I did a cop searched me for a BS reason and I almost got arrested so I don't carry them at all anymore.

[87ELC2]

I always have a small HPC set on me. I don't do anything that would give the police reason to search me, and even if they did, I'm a bonded locksmith...

[Iceberg_Slim]

i keep a 5 piece set in my car in a little plastic tube

[thubanpete]

I, personally, do carry when I'm out. You never know when they could be helpful..

[Raccoon]

I never carry them on me but the one time I did a cop searched me for a BS reason and I almost got arrested so I don't carry them at all anymore.

You _almost_ got arrested? On what grounds? What did he say he was going to charge you with?

Honestly folks, if I had it my way, these "omg carrying around lockpicks" threads would be in the trash.

Lockpicks are not illegal. Breaking into homes is.

If your mindset is so stuck in elementary school, that you do not allow yourself to enjoy the rights and freedoms of living in a civilized country/world, then you will soon see those rights taken away.

You don't need to raise your hand to goto the bathroom. You don't need to ask if it's OK to carry lockpicks with you. It just is.