Posted on 10/16/2009 9:07:41 AM PDT by JoeProBono
UNIONTOWN, Pa. A Pennsylvania Civil War buff faces a felony charge for accidentally firing a 2-pound cannonball through the wall of his neighbor's home. Fifty-four-year-old William Maser had been charged with reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct. Authorities on Thursday added a felony count of discharging a firearm into an occupied structure.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
well at least our masters finally acknowledged that cannon are part of the 2A...
I went to a Civil war renactment this past summer a few weeks before this incident. This fellow was there with several cannons. The cannons this guy had were really nice full size replicas that he makes as a hobby.
It was an accident. If he is prevented from making or possessing more, it will be a real hit to Civil War and Revolutionary war re-enactors everywhere.
Yeah, that would suck.
Could’ve also been a 100 Years War buff who accidently launched a diseased horse butt into the dude’s yard with a trebuchet!
You may be on to something. Chez Maser.
I read it and posted it right after my first post...
Couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn does not apply....
Or ordinance ... definitely not a fire arm.
The charges are more than a bit excessive. Still, I would not want to be the defense attorney, “let me explain how my client fired a cannon and hit his neighbor’s home but wasn’t negligent in the process.” That strikes me as a hard sell. I’d prefer a civil settlement - he repairs the damage, makes reasonable changes in structures and procedures to avoid a repeat of the event, and has no criminal record - but I don’t expect the actual case to resolve so reasonably.
Unless there was extreme negligence this is more of a civil matter. The question is, has he fired his cannon in this direction before and not had a problem? If he does it all the time and this was the first ricochet then this was just a freak accident.
As others have said, a muzzle loader, even if a cannon, isn't a firearm. The charge is just to get him to plead to a lesser charge.
Uniontown ping!!
My neighbor were pissed when I drove my Panther tank over their Prius.
What a bunch of sissies....
Lucky he is not in Kalifornia. When I bought a replica 1857 Enfield musket cal .57 from Navy Arms I inquired with the Kalifornia DOJ. No problem to buy straight to end consumer with UPS delivery. If it a pistol be it a cap-n-ball or a .58 single shot then they wanted it to go through a FFL holder.
When the government allows 20-30 million illegal pieces of crap into the United States to include 50,000 Gang members.
Folks like yourself are worried about holding accountable some civil war buff who had no intention of “holeing” (thats what he did) his neighbor’s house where PBTJ no one was injured..
With all due respect, and I hope you will accept this in the humorous manner I am trying to convey..
Your out of you cotton pickin mind!!!
See to it, he fixes the house and attends a class on the care and safe operation of his Cannon.
Then forget it.
Multiple Felonies?
All while some Illegal Alien in California gets time served (6 months I believe) for repeatedly raping his “Hispanic” friends 12 year old daughter.
The Judge apparently accepting that it was all just a “cultural misunderstanding” and the girl consenting insured it was not “Rape”. Rape”.
Jeeze Louise fella..
Were all in this together and were in a hell of a lot of trouble.. Let’s try to focus on punishing those who really are criminals.. If we spend our days and time arresting people for stupidity.. We will have us all in jail and there will be no one to bail us out..
W
Or into the Romans, and pitched the guys cat at him.
Exactly. If he rammed the guys house with a MOTORIZED deadly weapon armed with liquid explosive, they’d refer it to the insurance company and have a beer. Why so much more accountability for a simple metal ball?
Accurate grazing fire at 400 yards? Outstanding! (joking)
It is a prosecutors tactic.
Charge you with the most severe and as many charges as they can to persuade you to plead to a lesser charge.
It works most of the time particularly if you are be represented by a public defender.
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