No harm, yet very foul…

November 10, 2010 in Anti-Gun, Bad News!

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This just in from La Belle Police State…

Weapons charges for teen who walked with BB gun

By Kristy Nease,
OTTAWA CITIZEN – NOVEMBER 10, 2010

OTTAWA — A teenage boy carrying what looked like a rifle in the streets surrounding his high school in Papineauville, Que., has been charged with careless use of a firearm. As it turns out, the 16-year-old wasn’t carrying a rifle Tuesday afternoon near Louis-Joseph Papineau high school — it was a BB gun. And Sûreté du Québéc police said the teen hadn’t been using it to any malicious end, but had simply taken it there from home to show to a friend who wanted to buy it.

Quebec provincial police got the call at about 1 p.m. Upon their arrival, officers controlled the scene, locked down the high school and began a search of the area. A nearby elementary school continued normal operations, police said. Just under an hour later police apprehended the 16-year-old in the streets around the school, and he was no longer carrying the BB gun, police said.

No one was injured, no one was threatened and the BB gun was never used on school property, police said. The teen was taken in for questioning and his BB gun was seized. He was later released from custody, with release conditions, on a promise to appear in court. Papineauville is about 70 kilometres northeast of downtown Ottawa.

Everyone is agreed – nobody was harmed, or even threatened with harm.  All we have is an over-reaction from the neighbourhood at the mere sight of a gun, and the over zealous reaction of a Thug State to slap down anyone when it comes to firearms.  Since a BB gun is, under the Firearms Act, considered to be a “non-firearm”, and it wasn’t actually used as a firearm (which constitutes a “use offense”, even if it isn’t a real firearm), then how can this poor kid be charged with “careless use” of something that isn’t a firearm?

It doesn’t have to make sense – it’s the law!