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Posted on 12/15/2006 11:50:17 PM PST by neverdem
A convicted felon barred from carrying a firearm broke the law when he started toting a BB gun, the Minnesota Court of Appeals has ruled.
John Fleming Jr. couldn't legally carry a gun because of two felony assault convictions, so he packed a BB gun instead.
Ramsey County prosecutors decided Fleming was splitting hairs and charged him with unlawful possession of a firearm.
Fleming won when a Ramsey County District judge threw out the charge, ruling the statute doesn't apply to BB guns. But the appeals court ruled prosecutors could again take aim at the two-time felon.
The appellate court reinstated the charge against Fleming, finding that a firearm is "any gun from which a shot or a projectile is discharged by means of explosive, gas or compressed air."
Fleming is accused of carrying a black metal BB gun that discharges a pellet by means of a CO2 cartridge.
Hey, this is a thread about BB guns! Don't go comparing them with an M32-A3 Assault Spork. They are not even in the same league.
In fact, the M32 may still be classified, in which case you are in real trouble, metesky.
I don't want judges to be the final answer on what is a gun and what isn't. Do you? Do you want an unelected judge ruling that a handgun is not protected from infringement since, by his definition, "arms" are limited to long guns (rifles and shotguns)?
Let the legislature define firearms. If the people who elected them to office disagree, they'll let them know.
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I have been authorized by V.P. Cheney to reveal the secret research conducted on the M32-A3 Assault Spork. Known as The Manhatten Project it was conceived after several top scientists consumed 12 gallons of Manhattens on a hot summer day. The rest is history.
"The Law", both state and local, contains some very strange definitions. For example: In the portion of the law known as the National Firearms Act, "firearm" doesn't mean all guns which use an exothermic chemical reaction to propel a projectile", which is the common usage definition, but rather only machine guns, short barreled shotguns and rifles, along with a few items not considered firearms at all, such as sound suppressors, "explosive devices" and others. Some of that may be that the original bill included handguns as well, but they were removed from the legislation. In other parts of the same US Code, firearm takes on something closer to the common usage definition.
Oh that's really a good one. I liked it alot.
So...axes are still ok then?
The law makes a distinction between using a car as a weapon and merely driving the car. The article does not indicate that he used the BB gun as a weapon. Besides, anything can be a weapon, a sharp stick, a rock, or a 2x4. You going prosecute people, even 2X felons, for having those?
By definition, its not a "FIRE-ARM". Technically I guess it would best be described as a "Blow gun".
I beleive it is already the law that anyone on probation or parole is not allowed to consume alcohol (or vote). But this is almost never enforced. It would be even less enforced if this prohibition were to last for a persons lifetime.
So the BB guns that fire by compressing and releasing a spring are still OK?
WHat about these fancy new air rifles that use electric heaters to heat the compressed air in the chamber to increase the power?
The article only states what the judge ruled, it does not quote the law itself.
However the law does indeed define a firearm as follows:
"Firearm” means a gun that discharges a projectile or shot by means of an explosive, a gas, or compressed air."
The law, as they say, is an ass.
Agreed, but in this case it was the legislature that did that, not the appellate judge.
Now in most states I'd agree that this would have been an inappropriate ruling, but MN had an asinine definition of firearm enshrined in state law.
If if wasn't such a liberal state, there might be a chance the state Supreme Court would overturn the definition, perhaps because it's over broad. Clearly El Gato sticking a projectile up his...well you know, and then cutting one, does not a firearm make, (no source of ignition :) except in MN, NJ, and probably a few other states as well. Pea shooters, a plastic straw and a hard peas, are firearms in those states. I wouldn't have believed that even of them, not even of Massachusetts or Connecticut, but I wouldn't be surprised if the latter two states use similar definitions.
If they start to outlaw cross-bows and such...then the NRHA will be on this (National Robin Hood Association).
These folks up in Minnesota would never make it in the real world. If we packed up 10 of these characters and brought them to New York City...they'd be begging for mercy within sixty minutes...begging to go back to St Paul.
BB guns? A pea-shooter fits the definition. All that takes is a large malt type straw, and some dried peas or beans. When I was a kid those, the shooter and the "ammo" were sold at the corner drugstore... course they sold BBs too, and the hardware store a couple of stores down sold real firearms and the ammo for them. (Pre '68, way pre '68. I was looking forward to being able to buy guns and ammunition from the Sears, Wards, JC Penny catalog, after I graduated from high school and had a little money.. no such luck, I graduated in '68). (We had a convenience store (not a stop and rob) that sold rifles, shotguns and I think handguns, and the ammunition for them, even well after '68. A whole chain of them in fact. The chain is still around, but have been converted to "same as all the rest" "Stop and Rob" type convenience store/gas stations.
BB guns? A pea-shooter fits the definition. All that takes is a large malt type straw, and some dried peas or beans. When I was a kid those, the shooter and the "ammo" were sold at the corner drugstore... course they sold BBs too, and the hardware store a couple of stores down sold real firearms and the ammo for them. (Pre '68, way pre '68. I was looking forward to being able to buy guns and ammunition from the Sears, Wards, JC Penny catalog, after I graduated from high school and had a little money.. no such luck, I graduated in '68). (We had a convenience store (not a stop and rob) that sold rifles, shotguns and I think handguns, and the ammunition for them, even well after '68. A whole chain of them in fact. The chain is still around, but have been converted to "same as all the rest" "Stop and Rob" type convenience store/gas stations.
The definition is over broad. That's got nothing to do with Federalism, by any definition.
The definition is over broad. That's got nothing to do with Federalism, by any definition.
>>Would a bow and arrow be considered a "firearm"? A crossbow?<<
No, silly. It clearly said explosive or "compressed gas" and a projectile.
So that would include a straw and a spit wad.
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