I’m not the biggest fan of those who claim to be sovereign citizens. I find it incredibly odd that there are entire groups of people living within the United States of America who have decided they are exempt from all legalities.<\/p>\n
These anti-government activists use misinterpretations of common law to believe they don’t have to comply with government statutes unless they consent to them. This means there are people out in the world who genuinely believe they don’t need things like driver’s licenses or identification when they drive.<\/p>\n
The River County, California Sheriff’s posted an image to Facebook<\/a> of a sovereign citizen homemade license plate, showing what something like this could look like. Honestly, I’ll admit that to those who aren’t trained to look for these, it looks like a pretty average plate.<\/p>\n However, even the officers who posted this know better, writing, “We don’t do a lot of traffic stops, but when we do, there will be signs.”<\/p>\n Homemade “Traveler” Plate Claims Driver Is “Exempt”<\/p>\n The image shows a gray Scion with a license plate that simply reads, “TRAVELER.” Besides that, the other markings on it reveal the different common law codes this particular driver is using to justify not registering their vehicle.<\/p>\n In fact, in the areas where a registration sticker would normally be placed, it instead reads, “Exempt.” Even the top of the plate says, “Right to Travel, Private,” as though that would be enough to send an officer on their way.<\/p>\n Concerning the Uniform Commercial Code 9-109(1), it applies to commercial contracts that create a security interest in personal property or fixtures. Sovereign citizens misread commercial law to claim that their vehicle is a private “conveyance” rather than a motor vehicle.<\/p>\n The UCC 1-308 is primarily there as a legal loophole to opt out of government laws, taxes, or criminal charges.<\/p>\n Comments Poke Fun at Homemade License Plate and Predict How the Traffic Stop Ended<\/p>\n The sheriff’s office’s post quickly became a magnet for jokes, with commenters immediately recognizing the unusual plate as something they associated with so-called “sovereign citizen” arguments. One person joked that officers probably let out a “very long sigh” the moment they saw it, while another suggested it would have been easier for the driver to simply print “Take me to Jail” on the plate.<\/p>\n Others predicted exactly how they imagined a traffic stop involving the vehicle would unfold. Several joked about broken windows, Tasers, towing fees, and the inevitable argument over whether the person was “driving” or merely “traveling,” while others pointed out that the Uniform Commercial Code provisions sometimes cited in these arguments don’t eliminate ordinary licensing or registration requirements.<\/p>\n Even the sheriff’s office joined in on the fun. Responding to one commenter, the department jokingly imagined searching Flock cameras for a gray Scion with a “Traveler” plate and a “Coexist” bumper sticker, and later poked fun at the idea of relying on legal advice found online.<\/p>\n At least a few people gave the driver points for creativity. One commenter joked that making a custom plate required more initiative than simply forging registration stickers, while others said they’ve watched plenty of similar traffic stops online and that these arguments rarely seem to end the way the driver expects.<\/p>\n If you want more stories like this, follow Guessing Headlights<\/a> on <\/a>Yahoo<\/a> so you don’t miss what’s coming next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I’m not the biggest fan of those who claim to be sovereign citizens. I find it incredibly odd…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,9115,172245,114279],"class_list":["post-433777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-license-plate","tag-sovereign-citizens","tag-traffic-stops"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}