This is part two of a two-part series. You can read part one here.
The second not-so-obvious lesson from the Ian Roberts case is that gun laws are often snares that trap the unwary and subject them to prison for victimless crimes.
Roberts could or could have faced imprisonment due to actual or potential gun law charges.
First, as previously noted, the weapons possession charges at the New York Port Authority in 2020 appear to have been dismissed.
A dismissal can happen when there is an inadvertent violation of New York’s draconian gun possession laws and the charged person is represented by competent counsel who manages to obtain a dismissal.
For example, in an effort to obey the law, airline passengers who wish to transport a gun go to La Guardia airport and present their properly locked TSA-approved case with an unloaded gun at the airport counter and declare it contains a firearm. Because they do not have a New York firearms license, they are then arrested by local police for possessing a firearm. This has happened hundreds of times.
Or a person can be coming to New York to visit Aunt Maude. Unfortunately, he has forgotten that there is a .38 revolver is in his luggage. Even more unfortunately, Aunt Maude’s apartment does security screening on incoming luggage. If they find a weapon, they call the cops.
Or, if you are riding in a car that is searched by police and they find a weapon, and no one admits the weapon is theirs, all occupants of the car are charged with illegal gun possession.
A “weapon” may include “an ammunition feeding device”, i.e. a magazine holding more than seven rounds of ammunition. Possession of this “weapon” outside the home may result in six months imprisonment.
Although there are licensing regulations allowing firearms possession, reading the New York standard charge for Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree is enough to make you wonder whether the Second Amendment even applies to New York:
“Under our law, a person is guilty of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree when that person knowingly possesses any firearm. The following terms used in that definition have a special meaning:
A FIREARM means any pistol or revolver.”
Second, completely separate from his out-of-state charges, Roberts was found with a loaded handgun in his vehicle in Des Moines. DHS stated, “The investigation into how Roberts acquired the handgun is being turned over to the ATF. It is a violation of federal law for those in the U.S. without legal status to possess a firearm and ammunition.“
ATF found four additional firearms, as well as ammunition, at Robert’s home.
Roberts is now charged with violating 18 U.S.C. Section 922 (g)(5)(A) which makes it illegal for any “alien. . . illegally or unlawfully in the United States . . . to possess . . . any firearm or ammunition.”
Third, Roberts’s gun was found in a school-provided vehicle. On the day of his arrest, Roberts was scheduled to go to a “fun run” at Windsor Elementary. This raises the question of whether he ever transported a gun to school? Iowa Code section 724.4B, states “A person who . . . transports a firearm of any kind, whether concealed or not, on the grounds of a school commits a class “D” felony.”
It is doubtful that this crime, if committed, could be proven unless Roberts confesses to it.
The absurdity of this law is demonstrated, in part, by its limited exceptions. Even a parent with a concealed weapons permit, who wishes to drop off or pick up his child in the school parking lot, must unload his gun and place it ”inside a closed and fastened container or securely wrapped package that is too large to be concealed on the person” or in an inaccessible “cargo or luggage compartment,” or face prison. A loaded gun in a locked container in the trunk still violates the law.
Compare this to Utah. For decades, permit holders over 21, including staff, have been allowed to carry guns in school. Result: no mass shootings or shootings during school hours excepting one minor gun accident. The same is true, not only for Utah, but for hundreds of schools nationwide which allow their staff to carry weapons.
Common sense would tell you that, under normal circumstances, we would want superintendents willing to do so to carry guns at school. Indeed, there is now an Iowa statute that would permit trained school staff possessing concealed weapons permits to do so, if the school district allows it. Don’t hold your breath waiting for this to be allowed in the Des Moines Public School District.
Fourth, Roberts falsely told the district on his application that he was a citizen. If he purchased guns from a firearms dealer and stated on Form 4473 that he was a citizen, or otherwise falsified his immigration status, he violated 18 U.S.C. 922 (a)(6). We know that this was not the case for one gun, the pistol found in his car on the day of his arrest, which was purchased by his wife.
If his wife purchased any guns for Roberts, and was aware he was an illegal alien, she would be in violation of the “straw purchase law”, 18 U.S.C. 932 (b)(1), which would entitle her to up to 15 years in prison.
None of the gun crimes I have discussed requires a victim. No one is injured or harmed by the violation of any of these laws.
All of the New York potential gun law violations involved acts that would be legal in Iowa and many other states, including the over 25 states which have constitutional carry laws.
To be clear, I have no problem with federal laws prohibiting the possession of firearms by illegal aliens, knowingly making straw purchases for illegal owners, or lying on gun purchase forms.
But all the other gun laws discussed herein, which criminalize what should be considered normal, legal conduct done in accordance with Second Amendment rights, should be amended or repealed. They are traps for the unwary law-abiding citizen.