If the only gun charge was brandishing

[SecularMotion]

can we assume they were legal gun owners?

Elderly York man charged with brandishing gun at teens

YORK — An elderly man is facing a firearm charge after he allegedly displayed a gun at two teenagers he accused of trespassing on his property.

Thurman Owens, 84, was charged July 31 with brandishing a firearm, a misdemeanor, following an incident at his home near the intersection of Big Bethel Road and Hampton Highway.

http://articles.dailypress.com/2012-08-14/news/dp-nws-york-firearm-arrest-20120814_1_teens-firearm-charge-york-man

Army logistics employee shot by Chesterfield police after brandishing gun

CHESTERFIELD, Va. --

A Moseley man shot by Chesterfield County police after authorities say he pointed a revolver at an officer has been released from the hospital and charged with brandishing a gun and severely beating his sleeping wife with a baseball bat.

Russell D. Hornkohl, 51, was shot once in the right arm early Thursday just after midnight after police said he refused commands to drop his weapon after they stopped him about 6 miles from his home in the 4900 block of Kimmeridge Drive, off Otterdale Road.

Both Russell and his wife, Leah, are employed by the Defense Logistics Agency-Aviation at Defense Supply Center Richmond on Jefferson Davis Highway. Hornkohl, who is retired from the military, worked as a contract price/cost specialist, a spokeswoman said.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/local-news/2012/aug/24/tdmet02-army-logistics-employee-shot-by-chesterfie-ar-2151740/

Ruckersville man charged in road-rage incident

A 42-year-old Ruckersville man is facing three misdemeanor charges after reportedly brandishing a gun in a road-rage incident.

George Lewis Durham III was arrested around 8 p.m. Aug. 12 in the Sheetz parking lot in Ruckersville after the Sheriff’s Office got a report about a man driving a red Ford Ranger erratically on U.S. 29 and waiving a pistol, according to Greene County Sheriff’s Maj. Russell Lane.

He said Durham acted belligerently and was charged with assault and battery, brandishing a firearm and being drunk in public. All three counts are misdemeanors, Maj. Lane said.

http://www2.greene-news.com/news/2012/aug/23/ruckersville-man-charged-road-rage-incident-ar-2151319/

[shadowrider]

1. You can assume nothing until it's proven, unless you're engaging in wishful thinking

YYYYYYEEEEEAAAAAAAAAA. Google dump time.

[SecularMotion]

3. If they were not legal gun owners

wouldn't there be additional charges of illegal possession of firearms?

[shadowrider]

4. Possibly. Brandishing is against the law whether they're legal or not. n/t

[SecularMotion]

5. Illegal possession is a felony, while brandishing is a misdemeanor

Wouldn't illegal possession be the more serious crime and more newsworthy?

[shadowrider]

6. IMO, brandishing is more newsworthy.

[rrneck]

2. The cut and paste spam brigade

sallies forth once again to do battle on the charred landscape of semantic distinction. All hail the power of endless repetition to spin ideology in the vacuum of imagination!

[GreenStormCloud]

7. I doubt that those are first offenses, except for the old guy.

The old guy might be senility. The other two guys almost certainly have prior offenses. Guys that do stuff like that have anger problems that get them in trouble with police fairly early in life.

[SecularMotion]

9. Were they legal gun owners?

[shadowrider]

11. Who knows. You posted the story, why don't you find out? n/t

[friendly_iconoclast]

13. You expect them to go beyond a mere Google dump? Are you kidding?

[shadowrider]

14. I figure karma's gotta be good to me sooner or later n/t

[rl6214]

20. I'm just shocked that he/she actually posted a comment other than just the normal google dump

[GreenStormCloud]

15. Unknown, but probably not.

The Form 4473 asks about being dependent upon alcohol so the drunk likely wasn't a legal owner.

The guy that beat his wife probably wasn't as domestic violence will get a person banned.

But I will admit that I am speculating based on probabilities.

[SecularMotion]

16. Why weren't they charged with unlawful use or illegal possession of a firearm?

I've never heard of a car accident or reckless driving charge where an unlicensed or unregistered driver was not charged.

[GreenStormCloud]

17. I was in exactly such an accident about two years ago.

The other guy had a felony warrant for his arrest (Warrant read "assume to be armed and dangerous&quot ,he fled the scene on foot, (He was 100% at fault for the accident), was caught by the cops a few minutes later. He had no insurance.

He was picked up on the warrant but no charges were added due to the accident. He was out of jail the next day.

I was mildly injured (really bad bruises), my car was totaled.

[SecularMotion]

18. That sounds very unlikely, especially when auto insurance is involved

Can you provide anything besides a personal anecdote to support your claim?

[shadowrider]

21. As your buddy Hoyt once said, some things are so obvious they don't need to be proven n/t

[SecularMotion]

23. Not in this case

That and the fact that your story doesn't actually answer my question.

[gejohnston]

19. GSC described federal law

a federal law may have been violated, or the article didn't happen to mention it.

[Buzz Clik]

8. Sometimes the cops go with lesser charges as a matter of course.

You were going 75 in a 50, they write it up as going 65. In some states, you can go to jail for going 25+ over the speed limit.

A husband and wife are beating the hell out of each other in a domestic dispute, but they only get written up for disturbing the peace. A citation rather than a visit to the hoosegow.

Is that the case here? Who knows. Maybe and maybe not.

[rl6214]

10. "can we assume they were legal gun owners?"

You posted a comment!!!



Don't know what you meant by it but you posted one non the less.

[ManiacJoe]

12. Congrats on actually starting the conversation

by posting a comment!

The assumption that they are legal gun owners is not a safe assumption based only on small news articles. "Illegal possession" is not exciting as far as selling newspapers is concerned. It is similar to reporting a car driver not stopping for a pedestrian versus him later speeding 100mph on the freeway.

[Jenoch]

22. Thank you for actually

posting a question with your thread-starter here. It appears nobody so far has the answer to your question. I am sure you are attempting to make a point, but I'll be darned if I know what it is.