Posted on 04/11/2019 12:10:08 PM PDT by Moseley
WOODBRIDGE, Va., April 11, 2019 /Christian Newswire/ -- A new lawsuit says some of Virginia's gun-related laws are unconstitutional. The federal complaint is being filed April 11, 2019 in the the Eastern District of Virginia.
A military veteran in Fredericksburg, Virginia, was prosecuted for merely holding a B.B. gun down by his leg, upside down with the trigger hanging down near the ground. He then leaned the gun up against his own fence.
The veteran was arrested for "assault by intimidation" and "brandishing" for merely holding a gun with other people around down next to his leg. He asked trespassers from his own backyard what they were doing there across his own fence in a private parking lot next door.
The Fredericksburg prosecutor argued that Wolff was guilty of frightening people with his B.B. gun because he grabbed the B.B. gun on the way out his back door for self-protection. The prosecutor turned self-defense into guilt of assault by intimidation.
Virginia attorney Jonathon Moseley filed a "declaratory judgment" lawsuit, which can be viewed here. Details are at: http://www.jonathonmoseley.com/brandishing.html.
Criminal statutes can be ruled "void for vagueness" if they do not establish clear standards for a law-abiding person to follow or for a court to follow.
"Nobody knows what 'brandishing' means," explains Moseley, "because dictionary definitions disagree with one other. So effectively it becomes anything a prosecutor wants to claim." These laws are unconstitutional under the Due Process clause of the U.S. Constitution, the lawsuit alleges.
Virginia Code 18.2-282 and in some situations Virginia Code 18.2-57 are also unconstitutional because they violate the Second Amendment. A person cannot be prosecuted for merely holding or carrying a firearm. The Second Amendment cannot be limited by someone's feelings.
The lawsuit also claims that the right to keep and bear arms includes actually pointing a gun to discourage, ward off, or deter an attack. Moseley says: "It is very strange for the law to argue that it is okay to actually kill someone in self-defense, but it is a crime to display a firearm to make someone stop, turn around, and go away."
Mr. Wolff is asking for donations to a legal defense fund at: https://www.gofundme.com/prosecuted-for-quotopen-carryquot-need-transcripts
When RBG goes to hell, we may see states and cities with draconian gun laws lose their grip on their anti 2nd amendment fiats.
“brandishing” has no legal definition. Like “loitering” or “breach of peace.” It means whatever law enforcement wants it to mean. If they want to arrest you, they’ll find a word they can use to accuse you of.
Of course everyone knows that branishing a weapon simply means cleaning it and wiping the gun down with brandy. Hennessy Cognac works pretty good.
The charge here is utter nonsense.
I will say though, if a guy out of the blue starts angrily waving a gun and appearing to get more angry as the moments pass while being unprovoked, > IMO < that’s brandishing and cause for being confronted before he uses the weapon on innocent people.
No a big fan of letting some kook get off a few rounds before he’s confronted with force.
“Calm down. Put the gun down or leave. Otherwise we’re going to have a problem.”
he took the gun ‘for self-protection’ meaning I guess that OTHER people were menacing him? Why were they not arrested? When you grab something for self protection- it means someone is already threatening you- so you can’t possibly be ‘menacing them’ or ‘threatening them’ You are defending yourself against THEIR threat- they were the ones menacing you- and you have every right to protect yourself-
Feelings seem to be the threshold argument for most leftists. Many of our laws are beholden to the feelings of affronted statists.
Outstanding. Thank you for the clarification !!!!
“When RBG goes to hell, we may see states and cities with draconian gun laws lose their grip on their anti 2nd amendment fiats.”
She was seen at Gold’s gym yesterday. Really, where the hell is this woman and how long do we have to put up with this crap?
Webster`s 1887 dictionary:
a brand is a sword, OF brond, Teutonic origin;
refers originally to a burnt sharpened stick hardened by flames;, i.e, a wooden sword; OF brandir,
brandish, v.t. [verb] to shake or wave,usually menacingly;
brandish [noun] a flourish, as with a weapon.
flourish v.t. to swing about flautingly, a brandishing, as of a sword
Mine: Thus it appears that to brandish is to display a weapon with as flourish, since brandish originally came from precludes to a sword fight, wherein the participant waved their swords at each other.
There was no apparent “waving” or flourish associated with the incident. If the man waved the gun at the others then it would be a flourish and ergo, a brandishing.
It appears that these legal people know nothing about swordfights and are flourishing in the Dark, Dark Ages.
Bearing arms is not brandishing arms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCBaFWX6ig4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ4iJg1b_-I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoK8nvv0nZo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNe5Cm7-DR0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbUhtdwQ1wI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXktDkqw91o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcZRxBfNUwI
and on and on and on....
search youtube “sword flourish”
My neighbor and I, six months ago, did more than ‘brandish’ - we held weapons on two vehicles that illuminated our rural homes with spotlights. How were we to know they were Sheriff’s deputies, since they hadn’t identified themselves?
Told their boss we’d do the same thing again if they decided putting a spotlight on us was a good idea.
SMFH
Don’t tell me there’s no deal with the devil
i’m not usually one to go down that road but..
“wiping the gun down with brandy.”
Would a girl named Brandy work also?
The VA brandishing laws are used by corrupt LEOs and prosecutors here. One poor guy in a county next to mine was observed transferring his pistol to his holster(legal)and was convicted of brandishing, even though he wasn’t aware that anyone could see him. A school bus driver was high enough to see him and called the cops.
While open carry is legal here and incidental exposure of a concealed firearm is not a crime, pretty much the only place you can carry an unholstered pistol is in your own home or on your own property AS LONG AS NO ON ELSE CAN SEE IT.
Yes. Eliminate the brandishing laws and subsume them under the laws that actually cover threats of assault.
soory meant preludes not precludes typo
I believe that the new lawsuit needs to add plaintiffs to deal with some technicalities.
So sorry to hear about your friend. That’s really, really awful.
But if you think he would be open to talking, I would love to talk to him and see if he wants to add his name as a plaintiff.
Or any one else to:
Email: Contact@JonMoseley.com
Not a friend of mine, but some guy in Prince William County, if I remember correctly. If you google that you should find it. You might also check with the VCDL, Virginia Citizens Defense League, about the legal aspects of both cases.
Would a girl named Brandy work also?>>>>>>>>
Yes, I believe it would but she would have to feel the vibration and recoil of shooting the gun. :-)
This also likely would increase the birth rate among conservatives.
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