Posted on 04/05/2006 1:27:08 PM PDT by 300magnum
An Evergreen High School student who posted Internet photos of himself posing with guns was convicted Tuesday on a charge of possession of a handgun by a juvenile. The conviction came despite his parents' testimony that they gave him permission to handle guns in their home without their supervision.
Colorado law prohibits possession of a handgun by a juvenile but permits parents to give them permission to possess guns in their homes - even without supervision.
"This is a very difficult case," defense attorney Barrett Weisz said in his closing argument.
"We have pictures that raise images of the Columbine massacre. But if we set the specter of Columbine aside," he said, the boy should be acquitted and sent home.
The photos were posted on the popular teen Web site MySpace.com. The photos showed him posing with a number of rifles and three handguns - a .45-caliber pistol, a .22-caliber revolver and a .357-caliber revolver.
The 16-year-old boy, who has been held in detention since his arrest in February, will be sentenced June 1. He was acquitted on two additional charges of handgun possession.
The judge set a $5,000 bond, but ordered that the boy must be evaluated and a safety plan drawn up before he can be released.
The boy's parents testified they were upset and disappointed with their son when they discovered the photos, but said he had permission to handle the weapons.
"I was not pleased and told him to take (the photos) down," his father testified. "I told him, 'What were you thinking when you took these pictures?' I was upset."
The father, a gun collector and enthusiast who is an airline pilot and retired Air Force pilot, said he gave the boy and his brother extensive training in the safe handling of weapons.
He said he gave his sons permission to handle the guns in the home even when he wasn't there, and the boys had access to keys to trigger locks.
"It was due to their experience and my trust in them" to safely handle the weapons, he said. They often cleaned the guns after they had gone shooting and he was out of town for his job, the father said.
They also built guns from kits, he said.
But Jefferson County District Judge Brian Boatright said that that permission had limits.
"That doesn't mean juveniles could run around the house and do whatever he wanted with the gun," Boatright said, noting that the father testified the boys were not allowed to load or fire the weapons unless he was present.
Boatright acquitted the boy on two charges in which he posed with the handguns but did not have his finger on the trigger. One of the charges stemmed from a photo entitled "angel of death," in which he posed on the floor with guns surrounding his body.
The judge was more concerned with a third photo in which the boy appeared to have his finger on the trigger.
"That exceeds the scope of his training, experience and trust (his father) placed in the juvenile," Boatright said.
Weisz argued the boy has spent far too long in detention already and needs to get on with his life. He has been enrolled in a private school. Weisz said he would appeal the case.
He assured the judge that no weapons will be in the house again. "The hobby is gone. The guns are gone and won't be back," Weisz said.
Bunch of loonies in the world.
As the child rapist of this country roam free.
WTF is the deal with Colorado over the last 5 years?
Friggin IDIOTS run that state
Apparently this judge has no limits..........
If what he did isn't against the law as it stood when he committed the act, it wasn't against the law. You can't legally convict him anyway just because you can foresee some negative consequence to his actions.
Not too mention are executive officers in HOmeland Security
If this kid had his Ruger 10/22 with him there would have been no problem...even with a folding stock and 30 rd magazines..
And at 16 he could own it....
Funny that at 16 once upon a time he would have been called to fight in this nations wars...
This country is run by bozos...we need to get rid of pronto!
Let me make this as clear as I can for you, your honor.
Kids with guns shooting other kids = Columbine.
Kids with guns NOT shooting other kids != Columbine.
Clear enough?
Is it just me or has the nation gone completely irretrievably insane? I wish this whole trend to totalitarianism would resolve to the inevitable conclusion and we could be free men again for a little while...
I was looking back through the article and couln't find any mention of any broken laws. Maybe some Colorado lawyer freepers can clue me in as to why the youngsters in detention.
"But Jefferson County District Judge Brian Boatright said that that permission had limits.
Apparently this judge has no limits.........."
And he has no understanding of the 2nd Amendment. I guess the Bill of Right don't apply to people under the age of 18.
Another out of control gov't tyrant using terror to force someone to give up their rights.
This is one of the most outrageous acts I have ever read about. The prosecutor, the judge and the jury need to be put in prison for life.
The kid should be acquitted, and then the parents should smack him for telling the whole world what kind of weapons they have.
Since FEB?
For PHOTOGRAPHS??
He assured the judge that no weapons will be in the house again. "The hobby is gone. The guns are gone and won't be back," Weisz said.
Hey, DAD, how about punishing the youngster, not yourself.
How can this be? The kid had a pic taken with his dads guns?
Damn, when i was 10, i used to ride off into the woods on my motorcycle with my .22 slung over my shoulder, fishing pole ascross the handlebars and a 2.5 gallon jug of gas strapped on. Cops never once gave me a hard time.
I wonder what my jail sentence would have been if I were 10 and did this now.
Is it just me, or have our freedoms been eroding at an accelerated rate recently? This judge's ruling is disgusting.
A couple of dozen times last summer, my 13 year old grandson came busting through my door, yelling, "I need the Colt with the shot loads, there's a big moccasin in the yard". Am I supposed to drag my old butt out, when there is a young man around to handle the problem?
"A government that does not trust it's law abiding citizens to keep
and bear arms is itself unworthy of trust." -James Madison
I posted before I finished reading the article. I think the judge's (IMHO tenuous) rationale was that the father's permission as he gave it had limits (no loading, firing, etc.), so he painstakingly parsed the specific acts performed by the kid and concluded that he lacked the father's permission to do what he was photographed doing.
Also, the dad is a wuss for saying there will bever be guns in the house again. Enact bathtub registration and control!!
very infuriating story, judge doesn't know the law.
saddest part of the story is the last line.. He assured the judge that no weapons will be in the house again. "The hobby is gone. The guns are gone and won't be back,"
because LEOs didn't know the law, this man has given up his weapons.
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