There are a number of state and federal laws in place that govern the use and possession of firearms. And because of the damage that weapons can cause, authorities are particularly aggressive in their pursuit to penalize those in violation of these laws. People who are convicted of a weapons offense in New York could be looking at some serious penalties, including jail time. Many of these offenses involve handguns.
In New York, a person must have a permit to carry a gun, a license to own the gun and the gun must be registered. But even if a person is in compliance with these laws, he or she can still be charged with a criminal offense. For example, a man was recently charged with two weapons charges after he reportedly brought his gun into an international airport.
The 34-year-old man says that it was an innocent mistake when federal Transportation Security Administration officers stopped him for carrying a gun through security at an international airport in another state. He had reportedly forgotten that the gun was in his carry-on bag and had no intention of trying to threaten the safety of others or violate any laws.
Federal regulations prohibit people from bringing a gun onto a plane unless it is unloaded and secured and stored properly in a checked bag.
Because he had violated this law by bringing his gun, which was loaded, in a carry-on bag, the man was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and carrying a concealed weapon in an airport terminal. However, the man was able to successfully argue that he did not deliberately try to bring a gun inside the terminal and that the whole situation was an innocent mistake. A judge recently ruled that the charges against the man be dropped.
But every case is not this simple. Crimes involving a firearm are aggressively pursued by state and federal authorities. People in New York who end up facing weapons charges similar to those discussed in this post should remember that they can defend themselves against allegations of misconduct; and many people do so with the help of an attorney.