Posted on 12/31/2008 8:32:20 AM PST by RightFighter
Several years ago, on a vacation trip to my brother's house in North Carolina, my dad and I made a really nice combustion potato gun out of PVC pipe. We were launching potatoes using AquaNet hairspray at least 300 yards from our position. It was great fun. We brought the spud gun home with us and it's been sitting in my garage ever since, unused. The trigger mechanism is broken, so this week I was considering buying a new trigger so that I could get it working again. I thought I'd check with law enforcement to find out what the law says in my area concerning spud gun usage.
First, I checked with my brother. He was a police officer in North Carolina at the time we made the device originally, but now he is an officer here in Florida. Here's his reply to me about the way he thinks the law would be enforced in Daytona Beach:
I can find nothing in the Florida Statutes that specifically mentions potato guns. I would assume that it would fall under 790.22, Use of BB guns, air or gas-operated guns, which just requires that any child under the age of 16 be accompanied by an adult to use one. The Daytona Beach Municipal Code 62-31 states that it is unlawful to discharge any air rifle within the city limits.
I live in the Daytona Beach city limits, so it sounds like I'd be walking a fine line by discharging the spud gun near my house, but from this explanation, it sounds like shooting it off in the county would be okay.
However, I also checked with the Ormond Beach police, thinking that my parents' neighborhood was in Ormond Beach (it's actually in the county). This is what the Ormond Beach police said:
Potato guns are generally considered to be a destructive device and are subject to state law as listed below. Basically the fact that they utilize a propellant and have the capacity to shoot a projectile make them illegal. City ordinances adopt all state law so it is automatically against city ordinance as well.
He then cited secion 790.161 of the Florida Statutes, entitled "Making, possessing, throwing, projecting, placing, or discharging any destructive device or attempt so to do, felony; penalties"
This statute covers "destructive devices", which it defines as "any bomb, grenade, mine, rocket, missile, pipebomb, or similar device containing an explosive, incendiary, or poison gas and includes any frangible container filled with an explosive, incendiary, explosive gas, or expanding gas, which is designed or so constructed as to explode by such filler and is capable of causing bodily harm or property damage; any combination of parts either designed or intended for use in converting any device into a destructive device and from which a destructive device may be readily assembled; any device declared a destructive device by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; any type of weapon which will, is designed to, or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of any explosive and which has a barrel with a bore of one-half inch or more in diameter; and ammunition for such destructive devices, but not including shotgun shells or any other ammunition designed for use in a firearm other than a destructive device. "
So make a spud gun that just uses compressed air. No propellant, i.e. hairspray. I found detailed plans on the internet years ago. I’m going to see if they are still around. I’ll post the link if I find it.
My bet is the BATFE might burn your house down with you and your family in it for even thinking about a spud gun.
technically, the potato could be a missile and the spud gun a missile launcher...if you really want to zoom out...
Death by Potato....I think I’ll write a book with that title.
I saw a PVC potatoe gun in Minnesota once that shot the potatoe halfway across this good sized lake. They used lighter fluid. I would think there’s ordinances - these things are as good as a mortar.
Concealed carry is probably out.
This will blow the hairspray powered one out of the water.
I read the statute as follows:
1. Potato guns using propellant are prohibited by this statute, and possessing such would be a felony.
2. As such, potatoes are also prohibited by the statute, and their possession is also a felony.
As a guy, I do agree that it would more fun than all get-out to blast spuds hundreds of yards through the air, if you didn't get caught and prosecuted.
But be careful, you could put an eye out with that thing.........
I think your best bet is to assume that your spud gun is illegal. It may not be, but the sense of rebellion and thumbing your nose at “the man” will make your spud shooting all the more enjoyable!
Dan Quayle, is that you?
“My bet is the BATFE might burn your house down with you and your family in it for even thinking about a spud gun.”
You know you live in a police state when they ban potato guns.
The potato is technically a missile, but the statute that the Ormond Beach officer gave me says that the missile has to contain an explosive, incendiary, or poison gas. A potato does not.
And, if you’re using Idaho potatoes for example, you could be charged with bringing a potato across state lines for immoral purposes.
Btw, I’m pretty sure that somewhere, a Democrat is working on a law to require the registration of all potatoes.
ahh...good to know...so potatoes are legal...but the missile launchers are not then?
RightFighter wrote:Did I miss that part. Read this part of what you posted above:
The potato is technically a missile, but the statute that the Ormond Beach officer gave me says that the missile has to contain an explosive, incendiary, or poison gas. A potato does not.
That description should fit any hairspray powered spud gun in the eyes of most law enforcement, district attorneys and probably most judges and jurors.
any type of weapon which will, is designed to, or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of any explosive and which has a barrel with a bore of one-half inch or more in diameter;
You know you live in a police state when they ban potato guns.
When potatos are outlawed, only McDonalds will have them.
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