« Firearm Ed. in West Virginia | Main | Brady equivocates on self-defense »
Wash. case on sentencing & arms rights
There's an interesting string of Washington cases under discussion at the Volokh Conspiracy. Basically, the courts read the statutes on sentencing enhancement for armed crime, in combination with the state right to bear arms, as requiring that the arms be accessible and have some connection to the crime.
Also in comments an amusing note on weapony. The court or perhaps the legislature lists "weapons," as including "slingshots." My guess is that the listing came about this way: 19th century lists of weapons (for purposes of bans on concealed carry, usually) often included the "slung shot." This was a term for the "blackjack," a flexible short club with lead in its end (or a homemade one --something heavy in a sock).
I suspect whoever was drawing up the modern list got one or more of those century-old ones, wondered what this "slung shot" was, and figured it must be a typo, or an antiquated term, for a sling shot.
2 Comments | Leave a comment
sentencing enhancements for "armed crime", including those proposed, or at least supported (at various times and places), by the NRA, are just plain silly, as well as wrong and unconstitutional IMO. If someone murders another, or robs another, that person is still a murderer, or a theif, whether the violent instruments were the hands and feet, or whether a baseball bat, automobile, or gun was used. A murderer doesnt deserve more punishment for shooting someone that he would for intentionally running over his victim. And whether the victim was a child, an 85 y/o, the murderer's wife, a random person, or an LEO, should make no differnce. All laws to the contrary are simply designed to make some pigs more equal than the rest of us (whether by making the killing of the more-equal pigs worse, or by making sure that only the more equal types are able to be effectively armed).
Massachusetts still lists "slung shot" in its ban on concealed carry. Despite the undeniable meaning of the original term, and the absence of any significant case law to clarify (or perhaps muddy) the issue, almost every law enforcement officer I've spoken with is absolutely certain that it means a sling shot.