Posted on 07/07/2021 6:19:29 AM PDT by pierrem15
A 63-year-old Garfield man will spend two years in federal prison after constructing a working red, white and blue cannon in his garage.
Kent W. Kimberling has been in custody of the Spokane County Jail since January 2020. In August 2019, investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms discovered the unregistered destructive device in the home he shares with his mother.
...
Investigators went to Kimberling’s home to conduct a welfare check. They found the cannon, which was later tested by federal agents and found to be operational. It fired a soda can, “leaving a large hole in the center of (a) target,” according to court records.
(Excerpt) Read more at spokesman.com ...
How could a Federal judge let someone rot for two years in a county lockup for being charged with creating a spud gun? Insanity.
“Investigators went to Kimberling’s home to conduct a welfare check.” huh?
I assume this is Garfield, New Jersey(?). Certainly the definition of “destructive device” is way too vague, done purely to criminalize people on subjective grounds.
You could see the government confiscating it maybe, but putting the guy in jail...what a corruption of justice.
I wonder why he did not ask for a trial by Jury instead of pleading. Bad defense lawyer.
Um, I know people who own large bore Civil War era cannons. Perfectly legal last I checked.
But a potato gun is a Federal offense.
Seems to me the Feds have too much time on their hands.
1 1/4 inch bore? Fires soda cans? No.
My guess is the guy shot his mouth off about local politicians.
Cops decided to do a "welfare check" because that probably allows them to do a search without a warrant.
He may have been arrested on local charges originally (the badly written story doesn't say).
Evidence is turned over the Feds.
Bad defense attorney (probably PD) files endless continuances and fails to challenge admissibility of evidence. Guy rots in jail for over two years.
Feds threaten max sentence of 10 years (!), he cops a plea to two.
Remember this case when you read about repeat offenders caught with guns whom the Feds decline to prosecute.
The whole case stinks of corruption or politically motivated prosecution.
This was in the state of Washington.
“Welfare check”. I thought that was something democrat voters received in the mail.
Seriously, “Welfare check” is an excuse to go into your home and poke around to find something to arrest you on.
Meanwhile, violent criminals get the other kind of welfare check and no visits from the police.
Sounds like a crank, disliked even by his own siblings. Still, sort of like hitting a fly with a sledgehammer. And how exactly did this warrant Federal attention?
https://www.wcgazette.com/story/2019/09/05/news/kimberling-denied-10-day-jail-furlough/30188.html
He's 63 so his mom is at least in her 80s. Supposedly they're doing a welfare check on her.
So they jail the guy who is taking care of her. Really worried about her welfare ain't they.
> Seriously, “Welfare check” is an excuse to go into your home and poke around to find something to arrest you on. <
It would seem to me that a search warrant would be needed for anything found there to be admissible in a court of law. Otherwise, why need search warrants at all? Every police raid could be shaped as a “welfare check”.
So he built a fricken potato gun? Good grief...
Maybe a Red Bull can would fit 1.25 caliber?
How could a Federal judge let someone rot for two years in a county lockup
—
Do Federal judges in Federal cases sentence people to County prison or Federal prison?
Yup. And are Federal judges just bobble heads? How could the judge not look at the evidence and not laugh the "destructive device" charge out of court?
I doubt it. We had a guy build a golf ball Gatling gun that he dragged around d on a trailer hitch. Golf balls are about 1 3/4 inches. I’ve seen cannon in local gun shops that fired food cans.
I wish the Constitution stated explicitly that objects cannot be illegal. Not guns. Not cannons. Not drugs. A thing is just a thing. Now, your behavior may be a problem. Shooting people is bad. Selling drugs may be bad. Destroying things with your cannon may be bad. But just having a cannon in your garage? Why should that be illegal? The guy didn’t do anything.
I remember years ago, when mechanical magazines were showing how to build a homemade carbide canon to fire salutes on the 4th of July.
And in the 1980s, FIREPOWER magazine showing how to build your own sub-machine gun.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.