High court upholds law banning possession of guns while drunk in own home

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If y'all want this to stay open, read the court desicion that General Geoff kindly provided. New articles are worthless when it comes to anything other than being alerted to a crime or court case.

His wife apparently felt scared or threatened enough to call 911. He was so drunk he could not pass a standard field sobriety test and admitted several times the was drunk. The shotgun turned out to be unloaded, but that is not something you assume when arriving on scene.

He got super drunk, decided to play with his shotgun and either scared his wife or threatened her. I'm not having a whole lot of sympathy for this guy.
 
I had to dig a bit into the legalese to find that “constructive possession” is not within the scope. Only actual possession while intoxicated appears to be germain.

My concern was that if someone has a gun anywhere in the residence and was intoxicated, it could fall within the scope. This does not appear to be the case.
 
Robert said:
If y'all want this to stay open, read the court desicion that General Geoff kindly provided. New articles are worthless when it comes to anything other than being alerted to a crime or court case.

His wife apparently felt scared or threatened enough to call 911. He was so drunk he could not pass a standard field sobriety test and admitted several times the was drunk. The shotgun turned out to be unloaded, but that is not something you assume when arriving on scene.

He got super drunk, decided to play with his shotgun and either scared his wife or threatened her. I'm not having a whole lot of sympathy for this guy.
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Sitting on your couch, playing with your unloaded shotgun while apparently not threatening your wife does not seem like a valid reason to be arrested and perhaps convicted of a felony and lose your 2nd Amendment rights for life.

You could claim your neighbor shooting his guns on his property scares you but that doesn't mean he can be arrested for any violations of laws because you are scared.
 
playing with your unloaded shotgun
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What happened to the safety rule - treat all guns as loaded. If you are what's loaded, how are others to know that is the case that the gun is 'safe'?
 
It's worth noting that the law prohibits a person from carrying or using a firearm while under the influence, not merely possessing one.
 
natman said:
It's worth noting that the law prohibits a person from carrying or using a firearm while under the influence, not merely possessing one.
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Makes sense. "Playing" with your guns while drunk is illegal. (Also stupid...)
If you are drunk in your home you wouldn't be charged with a DWI if the car's still in the garage.
 
I'm sure the law defines all those terms to some degree. Lets not get ourselves all twisted into a knot trying to accommodate this type of stupidity.
 
Aim1 said:
Well, if you can be arrested for possession of a weapon while intoxicated this opens up a huge can of worms.
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Neither the law nor the effects of court decision prohibit possession while intoxicated.
 
So, before gettin panites in a bunch we need to differentiate between possession as an active state and ownership as a more passive one.

One can be drunk and own a car - you just can't drive it until sober.

Todd.
 
I say let’s smell the coffee; loaded, unloaded, others present, gun handler alone, spouse scared, spouse a drunk also, etc - a drunk is a destructive social menace, a drunk with a firearm is an abomination. I say do whatever it takes - put a rifle butt across the bridge of his reckless nose and take that weapon - we can sort out the “the precious law” details later.
 
My family has always owned firearms since long before I was born. Some members of my family have also drank a lot. As you might expect there have been certain - thankfully rare - incidents of "drunk and stupid with a gun" that scared the hell out of everyone but the drunk person with the gun. One incident in particular he *should* have gone to jail, but that was going on fifty years ago and was not handled that way then.

Everyone of those people are dead now primarily from age related causes. No one in my family has ever suffered a serious gunshot wound that I know of. But those "drunk and stupid with a gun" incidents left lasting memories on all who were present.

Own guns if you want, drink if you like, but if you're drinking enough to feel it the guns should have been put away. I'm not sympathetic to this fellow.
 
GEM said:
What happened to the safety rule - treat all guns as loaded. If you are what's loaded, how are others to know that is the case that the gun is 'safe'?
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Can you imagine how many hunters and serviceman would be arrested under this law if merely possessing a gun while drunk was stayed illegal???
 
Then don't get drunk and handle guns. You seem to think that is OK. We used to have the same attitude about drunk driving.
 
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