Use of an air gun is legally classified as use of a firearm?
Does that mean it is legal to use an air gun where it is legal to use a "real gun" in NJ? And illegal to use an air gun in place of a "real gun" to be used illegally?
Does this only mean that use of an air gun to commit a crime makes the crime a "gun crime", or is it worse?
Meanwhile, it appears to me that in at least most of the 50 States shooting of varmints and for that matter "plinking" with "real guns" is not prohibited nor badly regulated by state law. And it appears to me that prohibitions on discharging firearms in general are municipal laws and not state ones.
It's the same crime. The determination is in the "eye of the beholder." If the victim thinks you have a gun, as far as the law is concerned, you have a gun.
A finger-in-the-jacket is an "armed robbery" if the victim believes you have a gun. If you pass a note to the bank teller saying "Give me the money or I'll shoot you," you have committed an "armed robbery."
In the specific case of New Jersey, however, it doesn't make any difference at all:
"Firearm or firearms" means any handgun, rifle, shotgun, machine gun, assault firearm, automatic or semi-automatic rifle, or any gun, device or instrument in the nature of a weapon from which may be fired or ejected any solid projectile, ball, slug, pellet, missile or bullet, or any gas, vapor or other noxious thing, by means of a cartridge or shell or by the action of an explosive or the igniting of flammable or explosive substances. It shall also include, without limitation, any firearm which is in the nature of an air gun, spring gun or pistol or other weapon of a similar nature in which the propelling force is a spring, elastic band, carbon dioxide, compressed or other gas, or vapor, air or compressed air, or is ignited by compressed air, and ejecting a bullet or missile smaller than three-eighths of an inch in diameter, with sufficient force to injure a person.
Here, it's a local law, and for good reason. Even in the most spacious of neighborhoods, houses are still 100-200 feet apart. Anyone who thinks of plinking varmints in such an environment is a moron. That's why it's so much fun to read threads like this one. Morons are entertaining, at least until they shoot a neighbor, which eventually they will. The preponderance of stupid hunting accidents is proof of this fact.
Disclaimers:
- I own guns.
- I don't hunt, but I know some perfectly safe & smart hunters.
Good reply..note that "elastic band" guns are "firearms" under NJ law (4th line from bottom). I think that rubber-band guns would be included under them. The bastards that write this tripe don't miss a trick.
I wonder if blow guns are "firearms" because they are propelled by your breath which contains CO2 :^).
I actually take them to parkland about 4 miles away. One neighbor catches in his Havahart then drowns them in a garbage can. First time I had problem I dumped a pint of chloroform down the hole and sealed it. Then a couple of years later, groundhogs liked a spot under stairs on a bank and I caught and released a couple but for future deterring, I had to cement hole under stairs.
Main problem with the Havahart is you don't know what you are going to catch. Along with groundhogs, I've caught skunks, possums, raccoons, squirrels and birds. One week I had to make 4 trips to the park dumping the other critters before I caught the groundhog.
I've posted this before:
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Wish I had photographed the skunks but at the time my urgency was to release momma skunk while 4 kids were hovering around the trap.
So far as I can see, the only "moron" to check into this thread is someone who ASSumes that everyone else lives in a place as crowded as where he lives.
For all you know MKIRSCH1 could live in Death Valley.
I'm not about to go back and check, but in previous incarnations of this discussion, others have opined that they probably wouldn't hit their neighbor. If it's being discussed, it's a risk. How far can a .22 fly, in your opinion?
A 22 Long rifle bullet fired upwards at the appropriate angle can fly a maximum distance of about one mile on level ground. This is fact and printed on most 22LR boxes. When it came down (after a mile flight) it is doubtful if it would have enough energy to injure anyone. If the rifle were pointed horizontally as in shooting at something on the ground, the range would be more like 600 to 900 ft. If someone shot a 22 CB cap (which I discussed) horizontally, the range would be more like
100 to 150 ft. The practical range where someone could be injured by the CB cap is about 50 ft.
The FACT is that a .22 bullet fired by me goes as far as it needs to go to hit the varmit and no farther (well, maybe a few inches if it's a skinny varmit).
As to the possibility of hitting a neighbor being a risk, it may, instead, be a virtue.
I tried a few seconds with Google, and that appears to me to be a "long gun" resembling a rifle. New Jersey has a law against carrying even so much as an unloaded .30-06 in the trunk of a car?
Although I am aware of:
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saying that New Jersey gun owners are required to get a purchase permit (good for life) to purchase handguns, rifles or shotguns.
So it sounds to me that in NJ, committing a crime that violates state laws with a BB gun amounts to committing a gun crime. That sounds fair to me.
Meanwhile, it appears to me that a BB gun that resembles a rifle is no worse regulated or restricted in NJ than a real rifle is.
And it appears to me that the lifetime firearm purchase permit that NJ requires probably applies as stated by Wiki to pistols, rifles and shotguns - as in "real guns" as opposed to everything that if used to commit a crime in NJ would make the crime a "gun crime".
I think that the courts in NJ are reasonable enough to throw such a case out.
Should the charge be a felony one, I think even a juvenile can get a jury trial especially if "charged as an adult". And I suspect that the jurors will find in favor of the defendant and against the prosecution for wasting their time by calling them onto jury duty for such a matter.
Here in Texas you can walk down the main street in Houston carrying a rifle or shotgun, or drive around with one in the rear window of your pickup. You can buy and own as many guns as you want, no registration of a person or weapon is allowed.
There are more cats in the United States than dogs, but fewer cat owners. That's because you can't have too many cats. It's the same with guns; there are (estimated) 240 million guns in the U.S., but most gun owners have more than one. If my family is representative, there are about 2,488 actual gun owners in the country.
.22 comes in BB, CB, Short, Long, Long Rifle, Winchester Magnum, WRF, and Remington Special, and I do not know that this list of versions of .22 is exhaustive. The LR / "Long Rifle" is said by the Wiki article on that round to be the most-used ammunition in USA, with high usage for target practice. Despite that round having "rifle" being part of its name, there are handguns that use it.
Kinetic energies of ".22" range from 20 to 324 foot-pounds, and muzzle velocities range from 560 to 2200 feet per second (and some slower CBs fly as slow as 350 feet per second, amounting to
7.93 foot-pounds of kinetic energy at noted 29 grain bullet weight) according to Wiki articles on these greatly-various ".22" rounds.
.22 short is noted to have muzzle velocity anywhere from 560 to slightly over 1,710 feet per second, usually close to 1,100.
If I am not erring with advanced-highschool or freshman-college physics,
1100 feet per second fired 45 degrees above horizontal means landing about
3.58 miles away if there is no air resistance. I would rather think that ricochets can go maybe half a mile, and that errant shots can go half a mile before running into something that stops or ricochets them. Maybe somewhat less for .22 short, BB and CB, along with more for faster and heavier rounds. I would not fire a .30-06 if a person or a house is downrange from me by up to a mile and 1/4-1/2 degree off-course to target. (I would rather think at least half a degree, probably "chicken out" at a degree of arc or less - unless reincarnated into a warfare scenario.) I would also not fire most .22 rounds at varmints unless I had certainty that the bullet would hit the target and stop there. As a result, I would rather attack varmints with "BB guns" at range close enough to reliably hit target, or by electrical means.
Thankfully, I live in an apartment complex, where I have little need to attack small 4-legged varmints with anything much beyond mousetraps.
The slower CB is less-affected by air resistance, which varies with square of airspeed. I would expect the CB to have most of its capability to inflict injury after flying 150 feet.
Please keep in mind what can happen if the projectile hits an eye, a jugular vein or a carotid artery... The resulting lawsuit can fairly easily cause a bankruptcy, and the injury that such lawsuit would be based on would be something I would choose bankruptcy over.
Does this mean your family owns a goodly 96,000 guns?
I thought most American households with guns had a gun count that can be counted on one hand, and close to half of American households had at least one gun.
I think that burglars and home invaders would feel safer if only 2,488 homes had gun owners as opposed to close to half.
Ignore the idiots who are telling you to poison or shoot the animal...you will most likely cause him to die under your building...then you will have a serious problem of living with the stink for 2-4 weeks.
As for the clowns discussing firearms and ammo, I am always amazed at how ignorant the majority of gun owners are.
When you discharge a firearm...any firearm..., you are completely responsible for what damage the projectile causes and where it goes.
There are countless "experts" serving decades of prison time for projectiles that went where they were not meant to go and causing damage/death that was unintended.
I am a gun owner and use guns daily...responsibly and legally...and I take this subject very seriously.
With that said, if my neighbor discharged a gun illegally I would be strongly tempted to beat him senseless before I called 9/11 to impress on him the stupidity of his act that placed my family in danger.
Good luck with a successful and peaceful solution to the groundhog problem.
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