We must now have carry permits for our fingers...

[Echo Tango]

in Canada. This is about the silliest thing I have read in weeks.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/07/20/guns-use.html


Offender can 'use' a handgun even without carrying one, top court rules
B.C. man loses appeal to have firearms conviction overturned
Last Updated: Friday, July 20, 2007 | 2:46 PM ET
CBC News
Threatening someone with a gun may be enough to warrant being charged with a firearms offence, even if one isn't being carried, Canada's top court ruled Friday.

In a unanimous ruling, the nine-member Supreme Court of Canada upheld a court decision in B.C. that convicted a man of gun possession, even though he argued he never had the weapon on him during a break-in four years ago.

If a gun was nearby and accessible quickly, then whether or not it was on the criminals was irrelevant, said the ruling.
(CBC) It didn't matter whether 25-year-old Andre Omar Steele or his three accomplices carried a gun during the crime, the top court said.

An offender "uses" a firearm when he or she makes it known "by words or conduct" that it is available, and as long as it is on the body or readily available, Justice Morris Fish wrote.

"They [the four B.C. men] repeatedly referred to a firearm in their physical possession or readily at hand in order to facilitate the … offence of break and enter," the ruling said.

Steele was convicted of an October 2003 break-in at a B.C. marijuana grow operation

 

[GRIZ22]

Sounds like they're done under Canadian law. The possession charge wouldn't fly in the U.S. but they certainly would have been charged with armed robbery if they said "I have a gun..open the door or I'll shoot" or something of that nature. If you point youre finger at someone in your pocket and declare "I have a gun" legally it is an armed threat. The victim has no way of knowing you don't have a gun.

We shouldn't be spending our time on defending criminal's actions.

 

[Alphazulu6]

I mean seriously. Can't they find another way of charging someone who is using their finger for bad things?

 

[SixBravo]

So... if I'm not mistaken, couldnt this lead to an eventual "if you own a gun and do anything wrong, its a gun crime" logic in their legal system? I mean, its not a stretch. Look at the crap floating around England's gun laws.

 

[JohnBT]

"An offender "uses" a firearm when he or she makes it known "by words or conduct" that it is available"

Walk into a bank in the U.S., make a pointy-finger "gun" in your jacket pocket and say "This is a stick-up." What do you think you'll be charged with? How about armed robbery. If the teller drops dead from a heart attack you'll be charged with something even more serious.

Life, it's not a video game.

John

 

[obxned]

This is not such a bad thing. Think about it. The threat of getting your brains spread on the wall by the BG is a pretty effective tool for committing a robbery - who's gonna take a chance and see if the BG is just kidding?

 

[SoCalShooter]

You guys are more than welcome to come here to the US and become citizens or you can stay there and fight the fight and hopefully hold out and take some ground back.

 

[Regolith]

I'm not sure why they didn't just charge him with armed robbery and be done with it....That's what we'd have done in the US, mostly because you can't be charged with a gun possession charge if you never had one, and armed robbery is a much more serious offense.

 

[1911Tuner]

Communicating a (lethal) threat is a crime. Making some believe that you're reaching for a gun is a good way to get shot...whether or not you actually have one.