Conviction in MySpace Weapons Posting
Boy who posed on Myspace with weapons is convicted:
I originally told you about this story here. A student of Evergreen High School was arrested for posing with actual firearms on his MySpace. Yesterday he was convicted of possession of a handgun by a juvenile. Here’s the best part…
The conviction came despite his parents’ testimony that they gave him permission to handle guns in their home without their supervision.
Colorado law prohibits possession of a handgun by a juvenile but permits parents to give them permission to possess guns in their homes - even without supervision.
The boy’s parents testified they were upset and disappointed with their son when they discovered the photos, but said he had permission to handle the weapons.
“I was not pleased and told him to take (the photos) down,” his father testified. “I told him, ‘What were you thinking when you took these pictures?’ I was upset.”
The father, a gun collector and enthusiast who is an airline pilot and retired Air Force pilot, said he gave the boy and his brother extensive training in the safe handling of weapons.
He said he gave his sons permission to handle the guns in the home even when he wasn’t there, and the boys had access to keys to trigger locks.
“It was due to their experience and my trust in them” to safely handle the weapons, he said. They often cleaned the guns after they had gone shooting and he was out of town for his job, the father said.
They also built guns from kits, he said.
But the bottom line is it doesn’t matter how well they were trained in firearm safety, kids are still kids and are going to do stupid things. For example…
The photos were posted on the popular teen Web site MySpace.com. The photos showed him posing with a number of rifles and three handguns - a .45-caliber pistol, a .22-caliber revolver and a .357-caliber revolver.
Boatright acquitted the boy on two charges in which he posed with the handguns but did not have his finger on the trigger. One of the charges stemmed from a photo entitled “angel of death,” in which he posed on the floor with guns surrounding his body.
The judge was more concerned with a third photo in which the boy appeared to have his finger on the trigger.
But the father has made the right decision now in my opinion…
He assured the judge that no weapons will be in the house again. “The hobby is gone. The guns are gone and won’t be back,” Weisz said.
Sentencing is scheduled for June 1st.
Crossposted at TheTrenchcoat Chronicles.
Tags: colorado, Evergreen-High-School, gunsRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Criminals
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