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.
ping
http://www.y2kbodyarmor.com/gunkids.htm
3-year old shooting an AR-15 here.
Wrong. They arrest you on "public drunkeness" for public drunkeness while in a bar because "public drunkeness" is already a catch-all law on the books that the cops can fall back on to haul in anyone.
Being here and knowing some folks in stategov, I can tell you what happened. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission's charter is about to sunset within the year. TABC thought they'd pull this stunt to get some positive "clean up the streets" publicity. But it backfired. BAD. State legislators (all drunks, every one) called up the TABC and told them to stop that sh!t right away and get their heads down IMMEDIATELY, or there'd be nary a single legislator that would be able to brave the firestorm of public opinion, and the TABC charter would either not be renewed, or the funding would be hacked severely.
Thus, it's pretty safe to go to a bar right now in Texas. A case like this where the public threw a fit and the legislators listened was refreshing, but too, too rare.
But to your point, DWI -is- a preemptive arrest, indeed. Anyway, there's enough laws to make us ALL felons, since we can't keep track of all of them.
P.S. Don't forget to sign your 1040 form so they can get you on tax evasion, too!
It's a good thing this image wasn't on myspace.com.
I wouldn't call him a pansy. His whole family has been put through hell. He's blaming himself for this, although he was doing the right thing by teaching his kids about firearms. Now look where it's got him.
These parents were not happy that their son decided to post pictures of himself and his weapons on the internet when they found out about it. I don't think they are bad parents. The kid may be a screwed up individual, or maybe he just couldn't resist being a braggart about his knowledge and access to firearms.
I used to play cops and robbers when I was a kid. It was just a fantasy. A game. Had it been more then that, I'd now be either a cop or a robber, yet I am neither. Role playing is a natural part of growing up.
I've recently been teaching my own son how to use firearms. He has his fantasies, but we talk about that and I explain to him in no uncertain terms that this is NOT A GAME.
I explained to him again, just this evening in fact because this story hits home with me, that there are only a few places where weapons are appropriate. War. Hunting. Self defense. Target practice.
It's not a game. It's serious business. Kids will brag, but that has no place when it comes to firearms. Explain it that way to them and they'll get it.
This dad might have saved them all had he made that perfectly clear. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. I don't know.
But he should have. And if he has a good son, he would have listened to that.
This judge on the other hand, thinks he is God, because he really had to reach for this decision.
"He put his finger on the trigger in that picture" (I'm paraphrasing).
Now where was that in the law?
Having lost with regards to the issue of firearms in the hands of citizens in court of public opinion, having lost in the halls of our elected officials the left has but one recourse left (pardon the pun). A corrupt prosecutorial process and liberal activist judiciary.
Every adult know this is a nonsense case. The left however are not adults and like children who are assigned as hall monitors abuse others when they get the opportunity.
Wm
Did he stand up in his chair and squeal before he said that?
Good Lord. This is in my county and I think I'm gonna vomit.
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