The legality of booby trapped firearms in the home

[Joseph85]

I am considering purposefully hand loading ammunition that will disable my firearms should they be stolen and used in a crime.

I cannot imagine my babies used for evil purposes, so having my weapons "booby trapped" for unsuspecting evil-doers sounds like a good idea to me. What are the legal ramifications of storing booby trapped ammunition in my home?

The idea would be to have the booby trapped ammo stored with my firearms. It would be easially identifiable by myself (say, in a red box), but unknown to a burglar as anything except usable ammunition.

Should someone break into my home and steal my firearms, they would logically steal the ammo as well. They would load one of my weapons and once they shoot it, the ammo will cause the weapon to explode.

I've also thought of undercharging each cartridge so that the bullet will become lodged in the barrel, thus disabling the weapon and reducing the chance the bullet will exit the barrel with enough velocity to kill.

The nice thing is that this booby trapped ammunition might become circulated by criminals, thus disabling more weapons than my own.

 

[blkbrd666]

Quick!!!...go put on your flame suit!

 

[AntiqueCollector]

What makes you think they won't go buy their own ammo? Or test fire the gun and find out something's wrong? Many weapons can take far more pressure than the safe loads, precisely in case over-loaded ammo is used.

 

[the_man]

How about doing something responsible like.....buying a safe to secure your firearms from theft

 

[HankB]

Texas law explicitly prohibits deliberately setting "mechanisms" which may cause injury, even if it's a thief or burglar who's injured. I can see a DA easily making the case that overcharged ammunition is a "mechanism."

On the other hand, if some bad guy steals your gun and your ammo and later is injured when it blows up, if your fingerprints aren't on the ammo, and if it's only a single round . . . which will be itself be destroyed . . . proving it was you who booby trapped it may prove to be rather difficult.

As for me . . . I really don't want any unsafe ammo around my house.

 

[Harvster]

Absolutely really really bad JuJu, unless you have a team of prepaid lawyers on staff and then it escalates to just a really bad idea.

Booby traps are illegal everywhere.

 

[Geno]

In Michigan it would be a huge felony.

 

[tom1200]

Really bad idea.

 

[Joseph85]

I keep one or two weapons out of the safe in my bedroom for home defense. I'm afraid I might forget to take one out of the safe and need it, so I keep at least one out at all times.

Undercharged ammo is another option. I could make it so it would lodge a bullet in the barrel.

It's not going to stop every situation that could happen. The burglaries in my area are by drug addicts or teenagers. These individuals aren't the brightest crooks.

 

[zxcvbob]

You might have gotten away with it, but not now that you blabbed about it to us. (think about it)

It would be *extra* stupid now.

Besides, how do you know you won't get hit by a bus or something and your heirs find it and shoot it?

 

[H088]

Stupidest idea ever..........

 

[stevemis]

Why not just store the firing pins in the red box?

 

[armoredman]

Remove firing pins, and store in a seperate area under innocuous lock and key. Much better, and also won't cause legal issues down the road. Deliberately setting a "booby trap" to cause injury or death is a prosecutable offense in any jurisdiction I am aware of personally. The "innocent child" would be paraded on every leftist media outlet, and his crime would be forgotten as they went after you, publically and legally. As an above poster said, "bad juju."

 

[Z-Michigan]

I would recommend against it primarily because of the chance you would fire one of those dangerous/defective rounds while rushed in a self-defense situation. That would be very bad for you.

Apart from that, it's an interesting idea, but with various risks. I doubt you would be prosecuted if the actual burglar got hurt. If they got killed, who knows. If the ammo finds its way to a third party who can claim they didn't know it was stolen, all bets are off.

In Michigan it would be a huge felony.

Why? Citation to statute or case?

All us lawyers know the very clear laws against spring guns and similar booby traps, but this seems to me quite different.

 

[Sans Authoritas]

Very bad idea. Murphy's law dictates that you would be the one to unwittingly obliterate your receiver and turn your firearms' barrels into steel flower petals.

Or worse yet: the completely innocent, unwitting person who legitimately inherits your firearm collection.

-Sans Authoritas

 

[give]

its illegal anyway,good way to go to jail after having your guns stolen,almost like rubbing salt in your wounds

 

[Defensory]

BAD idea!

 

[KD5NRH]

And, of course, leaving your AR with the BFA attached sitting out might not be the best idea, either.

 

[PhilA]

Yikes

Sorry, but I think that's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard of.

 

[Frog48]

Very very very very bad idea.

 

[WayneConrad]

1. A lawyer is your best source of legal advice.

2. There being fifty states, and in most states additional laws for municipalities, there are at least fifty answers to your question. However, I'll bet money that in most, if not all states, what you're thinking of is illegal.

3. Even if not illegal, you can still lose your shirt: Civil liability looms large.

4. What of the hazard to yourself? It would take only a moment of carelessness to have the trap sprung on yourself, instead.

You are considering augmenting one hazard, loss of personal property, with much greater hazards: imprisonment, bankruptcy or death. What's more, the original hazard still remains. You won't even have kept the personal property you were worried about.

 

[Mongo the Mutterer]

I keep one or two weapons out of the safe in my bedroom for home defense. I'm afraid I might forget to take one out of the safe and need it, so I keep at least one out at all times.

Joseph, your comment here makes me wonder about you. One of the first things I was taught about firearms, after the four rules, is that you are responsible for all of your guns, knowing where they are at all times. I CCW so I am always armed, but I have my night gun in my safe. Either my revolver or pistol is on my person or it is in a safe.

How can you forget where any of your guns are? I don't mean to flame you, but you might want to rethink your gun safety and storage practices.

 

[Keb]

I agree... this could be construed as a SET-GUN. Google in Law to learn more.

Now for the rest of the story.

In Iraq, the US Military salted some ammo dumps and likely areas for the terrorists to find, a bunch of ammo for AK-47's that would blow up and render the rifles unusable.

 

[straightShot]

Try another angle...

You may wish to set up an M18A1 Claymore mine. That would take care of anyone infiltrating your home, and they'll never even get to your guns...

Make sure that it's disabled, though, should the police or fire department respond to an emergency at your home...

No, booby traps aren't a good idea!

Safe storage is a better way to go.

 

[bdickens]

Where the ... do people come up with crap like that? That is a totally irresponsible idea and if I told you what this makes be think of you, I'd get banned forever from THR.