Mr.Skellington wrote:An officer striking up a friendly conversation is not the same as being detained which is what I believe we were discussing. If you are being detained then the officer must adhere to the 4th amendment benchmark of RAS to justify the stop otherwise its an infringement to your civil liberties. Probable cause requires more justification than RAS and comes into play during an arrest rather than a detainment/temporary investigative seizure.Agreed. My comments were designed to highlight the more typical officer encounter where a MWAG call has been made, the officer(s) show up and begin asking questions. Do you treat this as a casual encounter or a detainment. By court standards, unless you are approached with a show of force, which is an openly broad definition, it is a casual encounter and you are free to participate or not at your discretion. Anything you say or information you provide you do so consensually. Remember, openly carrying a gun is not a crime and is not reasonable suspicion or probable cause. You are well within your rights to say "Officer I'm in a hurry, I'm afraid I don't have time to talk right now", and leave (or try to leave anyway). If stopped, or a show of force is demonstrated, you ask if you are being detained. From there out, the officer is in direct conflict with your 4th Amendment rights if he does not have PC or RS.
The reason for asking "am I being detained" and "am I free to go" is detailed in the OP and is anything but silly.
“Those who beat their swords into plowshares usually end up plowing for those who kept their swords.” -Benjamin Franklin