LiquidTension
Member
Tuesday in my Criminal Law class, the teacher brings up the subject of concealed weapons permits. The whole discussion was about intent, and how intent makes a difference in pressing charges and such. He said that if you had a concealed weapon and you pulled your shirt up to threaten someone, you could be charged with assault. OK, I follow that. Then he said that if you raise your arms up and you accidentally flash your weapon, you can't be charged because you were not trying to threaten anyone and in fact were not doing anything wrong. At this point I spoke up.
"Actually, in many places you could be charged with brandishing for that."
"No you couldn't. If you pulled it to threaten someone you could be charged with brandishing, but not if you reach up to get something off of a high shelf."
I didn't get into the whole "the point of a CONCEALED weapons permit is that it remains CONCEALED" argument. I didn't have any specific cases to cite, so I backed off until I could get some more info. Comments and cases welcome.
"Actually, in many places you could be charged with brandishing for that."
"No you couldn't. If you pulled it to threaten someone you could be charged with brandishing, but not if you reach up to get something off of a high shelf."
I didn't get into the whole "the point of a CONCEALED weapons permit is that it remains CONCEALED" argument. I didn't have any specific cases to cite, so I backed off until I could get some more info. Comments and cases welcome.