12 year old boy charged for discharging airsoft gun

[Terry]

http://mankatofreepress.com/local/x1023 ... ng-firearm

[acerpower]

Wow, these laws are getting a bit ridiculous.
According to the law you could also be charged for shooting a Nerf gun, or a super soaker squirt gun.
What's next? Someday it will probably be illegal to say the word "gun".

[Heffay]

Whoever came up with zero tolerance rules should have been beat soundly.

[tman]

Whoever came up with zero tolerance rules should have been beat soundly.

And repeatedly.


This is stupid.

[tazdevil]

Well it's rare that I would say something like this, but in this case, if it goes to court, sounds like he would get off on a technicality; which in this case would be a good thing. Two technicalities, actually from the article:

Mike Johnston pointed out there is nothing in the police officer’s report saying he told the boys they had the right to remain silent before they admitted to shooting the air guns. They also weren’t told they could have their parents with them before being questioned, Johnston said.

Airsoft Gun appears to be in many city codes, however, I don't think you'll see enforcement unless someone complains, or it's pointed at a officer (which of course could lead to much worse than a minor fine!).

[TTS]

Most city ordinances are written in a similar manner, I just haven't seen them enforced with such a lack of intelligence.

[GARAGE DWELLER]

This story seems a bit one sided. Maybe junior saw Sally down the street and thought it would be fun to shoot at her. Maybe she took a few to the face. We played "guns" all the time growing up. Plastic guns, squirt guns, gun made out of wood with unlimited "ammo". No such thing as airsoft (although that would have been awesome) we ran around the neighborhood having a good time. Either way a visit from the cops to junior, then to the parents should have been more than sufficient.

[LarryP]

Guys a permit holder- Cops don't like that- Punish the kid to get back at dad.

[tazdevil]

Guys a permit holder- Cops don't like that- Punish the kid to get back at dad.

Now where do you get this information? I have 4 cops living within a block of me (2 city cops, a sheriff deputy for my county, and a sheriff deputy for a neighboring county), that all know I carry, and feel more people should. One even asked my wife why she doesn't carry yet. Spent a half hour talking to the county sheriff, that would sign or reject myself from carrying, when he came around discussing this very thing, and he said as long as carry holders abide by the law, he was perfectly fine with carrying.

[cobb]

Guys a permit holder- Cops don't like that- Punish the kid to get back at dad.

I was also wondering about this statement. I have friends that are LEO's, I shoot with LEO's and have trained with LEO's and they are all pro carry. Now I will agree maybe partially with that statement if it is referring to the LEO's that have sat at a desk for years and have a political agenda, but even then only maybe.

Mankato's Director of Public Safety and his assistant are both pro carry, some may remember that Todd Miller spoke at one of the House committee meetings in favor of the Minnesota stand your ground bill.

I do know that the North Mankato Chief of Police Chris Boyer is also pro carry, can't explain why here, but he is. So I really doubt that because the father has a permit to carry has anything to do with the 12 year old being prosecuted.

[sgruenhagen44]

I'm going to agree with the other guys. I work with a county sherriff. He is our parts manager. He knows I carry and has no problem with it, We had multiple discussions about what I should buy as a carry gun. Some people are dicks, that's the bottom line, adn some of those guys are cops. I had the cops called on me for shooting a 1,000 fps plus pellet gun in North St. Paul. He just gave me a warning. HE could have done much more.

[Dante]

Well it's rare that I would say something like this, but in this case, if it goes to court, sounds like he would get off on a technicality; which in this case would be a good thing. Two technicalities, actually from the article:

Mike Johnston pointed out there is nothing in the police officer’s report saying he told the boys they had the right to remain silent before they admitted to shooting the air guns. They also weren’t told they could have their parents with them before being questioned, Johnston said.

Airsoft Gun appears to be in many city codes, however, I don't think you'll see enforcement unless someone complains, or it's pointed at a officer (which of course could lead to much worse than a minor fine!).

I think there may be only one technicality there as from my understanding, minors are not afforded the same rights as adults.

Am I wrong?

[tman]

I think there may be only one technicality there as from my understanding, minors are not afforded the same rights as adults.

Am I wrong?

Depends.

[texasprowler]

The two technicalities mentioned suggest these are felony charges. That seems unusual for violating a city ordinance.

[Terry]

It will be interesting to see how this turns out.