Posted on 02/16/2013 6:45:58 AM PST by marktwain
Arizona, as with many states, has numerous definitions of what is legally considered a firearm. The definition of “firearm” is found in several different places in the Arizona legal code. This makes it difficult for citizens and lawyers to determine what is legal and what is not. People have faced prosecution for possessing items that most would not consider to be firearms, such as BB guns, airsoft replicas, squirt guns, or antique guns that are not legally firearms under federal law.
One man was prosecuted for possession of a firearm for a collection of parts that experts testified could not fire, but could be made to fire if nonexistant custom parts were created and installed on the existing components. By that standard, anyone with steel, files, and a hacksaw could be prosecuted as being in possession of a firearm.
In order to prevent confusion, Arizona bill HB2234 creates one uniform definition of “Firearm” that conforms to current federal definitions and insures that citizens will not be prosecuted under firearms statutes for possession of BB guns, squirt guns, antiques, pepper spray, and replicas.
Here is the proposed definiton, which may become a model for other states to follow:
"Firearm" means any loaded or unloaded handgun, pistol, revolver, rifle, shotgun or other weapon that will expel or is designed to expel a solid projectile or projectiles by the action of an explosive or a burning gas, that was manufactured after January 1, 1899 and that is designed to use fixed cartridges. Firearm does not include a firearm that is incapable of being fired without mechanical repair by the use of tools or the replacement of parts.
Link to proposed legislation
©2013 by Dean Weingarten. Permission to share granted as long as this notice is included.
The Fed gov’t can’t even agree amongst itself as to the definitions of cars vs. trucks.
Makes one wonder what crazy laws one is subject to in one’s own state or municipality.
So, if I separate the upper from the lower with my AR, it’s no longer a firearm if I have to use a part or tool to reassemble?
Finger guns are even scarier.
Isn’t a gun just s special purposed metal pipe?
It looks like “spud guns” are exempt for this definition, as are mortars & “bazookas”.
“...One man was prosecuted for possession of a firearm for a collection of parts that experts testified could not fire, but could be made to fire if nonexistent custom parts were created and installed on the existing components...”
That happened to the husband of my sister’s friend. He got 40 years!! His kid was busted for pot. The feds raided his home and confiscated this gun collection. They tied the ‘illegal firearms possession’ to the drug case cause the kid lived at home, even though the parents had nothing to do with selling pot.
I wonder how many new “Laws” are being put on the books across America each day. Does America have the highest ratio of lawyers to population on the globe?
Each part isn’t considered a firearm. Put them together and you have a firearm.
For example you couldn’t be charged with possession of a firearm if you had the barrel of a 1911 in your pocket.
It appears it’s designed to take away some of the power of the state to charge someone with being in possession of a firearm when they are not.
Care need to be taken with this so criminals don’t start using fake guns to commit crimes then claim it wasn’t an armed robbery for example.
I had an idiot tried to rob me one night with an unloaded .38 snubby.
There was a rumor going around you couldn’t be charged with armed robbery if you used an unloaded gun.
My gun wasn’t unloaded, and I probably would have shot him except I was laughing so hard when he crapped his pants.
I think a tennis ball canon fits the proposed definition.
An air pistol that can shoot pellets is defined under Michigan law as a handgun with all of the requesite purchase permit and registration requirements.
If it can only shoot BBs then it is a toy.
Question: Since AZ enacted its Constitutional carry, are not all restrictions in their state statutes now null and void? If not why not? Is there some reason that the Statutes are greater than the Constitution?
Airguns are exempt, and can be fired on your property inside city limits.
If you have a restraining order against you in a domestic case, you are not allowed to possess fire arms or ammunition.
There are any number of ways a definition can trip you up.
My muzzleloading firearms do not use fixed cartridges. By this language these would NOT be considered “firearms”.
At the time of the formulation of the 2nd amendment, muzzleloading flintlocks were considered firearms. I do not think the above definition is properly constrained—it is too tightly constrained.
“Airguns are exempt...”
Can you cite the ARS section that spells this out? If not, can you cite the case law?
I’m ok with muzzleloaders being exempted from the firearm category.
The first two home invaders get taken out by the .58 ball of double-barrell pistol #1 the next two by pistol #2....
“I’m ok with muzzleloaders being exempted...”
Then I can shoot them in celebratory gunfire on Independence Day and New Years without running afoul of Shannon’s Law?
In NY, rifles and shotguns are not firearms.
I had an idiot tried to rob me one night with an unloaded .38 snubby.
There was a rumor going around you couldn’t be charged with armed robbery if you used an unloaded gun.
My gun wasn’t unloaded, and I probably would have shot him except I was laughing so hard when he crapped his pants.
An unloaded weapon (and even a toy one) still appears to be armed robbery in Arizona
13-1904. Armed robbery; classification
A. A person commits armed robbery if, in the course of committing robbery as defined in section 13-1902, such person or an accomplice:
1. Is armed with a deadly weapon or a simulated deadly weapon; or
2. Uses or threatens to use a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument or a simulated deadly weapon.
B. Armed robbery is a class 2 felony.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.