anybody know?

btw, jill, a couple questions... a. how old was he? was he of legal age to possess the gun?

b. are you in louisville, and if so, are there MUNICIPAL statutes against the firearm there? as opposed to the state statute.
 
no i'm not in louisville, i'm out in the country. i think i see how he was charged now. the muzzleloader is viewed the same as a knife with a greater than 4" blade or a billy club. in so much as you can buy them but not conceal them as the law sees them as being able to cause death. i was just wondering if being he was in the city they did as they pleased to him as i couldn't see the harm of having an unloaded muzzleloader behind the seat. by the time he got it ready to fire it would be plainly in view. but thats just the way it seems to me. most of the police around here i don't think would worry too much about it. after all you can have a loaded pistol in a glove box here or in open view with no permit. (he was over 21 and i don't think louisville is able to over rule any state laws on firearms)
 
i don't think its overruling, its more like enhancing. yeah, in the country it seems firearms are more accepted than in cities.
 
Yeah Jill, it's really pretty slack, sometimes, but also carefully controlled. I belong to a re-enactor group and we do historical demonstrations for the public, and I walk around with a .60 flintlock pistol on my belt...sometimes we do battle demonstrations, firing blanks of course...sometimes we re-enact pistol duels, in public, on public grounds...we've never had any LEOs come around to question what we are doing. It only takes a minute to take a flintlock pistol loaded with a blank charge, and then put a lead ball down on top of it, and it is now a deadly weapon.

It amazes me. Sometimes we do these demonstrations for school groups, the kids and the school teachers and parents love it. I'm not knocking it, it just surprises me that in this day and age of extreme public safety concerns that we are allowed to do this in front of the public and get away with it. We also shoot cannon and long muskets.

I guess it's just because we are doing this for historic educational purposes. All the local cops know who we are. And we train each other on safety issues. If somebody isn't doing it right, we weed them out and re-educate them. In a positive way.

Get this: once a year we have an historical encampment on the site of an historical house museum (and these are common throughout north America). We have about 150 people in camp, about 100 of them have assorted muskets and pistols and swords and knives, and cannons, swivel guns and mortars. And a lot of black powder. We are covered by museum and city insurance.

We've never had a bad incident, because we all watch each other. We carefully screen people. The LEOs have never questioned us or expressed concern. It just amazes me, that's the way it should be, but we all run a tight group of safety-concerned individuals.
 
I was a LEO in Louisiana for a while, and frequently patroled rural areas. Common sense and an appreciation of context should inform enforcement. When I stopped someone for speeding, and when that person admitted to haveing a firearm in his vehicle, the following circumstances mattered:

Was that violator a felon barred from possessing weapons?
Was that violator in possession of controlled dangerous substances?
Was that violator recklessly displaying said firearm?
Was that violator driving slowly, lights out, stalking game from the road?
Was that violator in possession of other objects that create suspicion?

If I stopped your friend for speeding, and he admitted that he had an unloaded muzzleloader behind the seat of his truck, I can't imagine charging him. In LA, this is perfectly legal, of course. But even if it were technical illegal, what was the intention? No criminal intent, to arrest. I was willing to exercise discretion in those cases.

Which leads me to believe that the LEOs in KY are too, suggesting that perhaps something else went down.
 
...Kentucky courts consider firearms located under a driver’s seat concealed “on or about” the person, and are, therefore, unlawful... (This link is just to a summary of the law, not the actual law itself!)

Muzzleloaders ARE considered deady weapons, though in FEDERAL jurisdictions, they are not always considered firearms. (That's why you can buy a muzzleloader through the mail!) However, in Kentucky, reproduction and historic weapons ARE considered firearms and so might (I'm guessing here) include muzzleloaders.

If the gun had been in the back, the trunk, or elsewhere, it may not have been a problem. Was it in a case? That might have helped, but in a number of places I looked, KY really frowns on guns under or behind seats...

J-
 
Unless you're licenced to carry in your state, keep all guns in your trunk, if stopped by police and asked if you have any firearms in the car, say no. If they ask to take a look in the trunk, say "no, i have places to be and would appreciate it if we could be done here as soon as possible."
 
Interesting thread, interesting interpretations. Here in northern New York, next to the Canadian border, we have a potentially dicey situation. As I said before, I belong to an historical re-enactors group. We do historical events on both sides of the border.

We have Canadians coming south to our events and we go north to Canadian events. In both cases we are carrying muzzle-loading muskets and cannon, and black powder (usually rolled into cartridges, not bulk powder)

Traditionally, we notify the border LEOs people ahead of time and tell them that we are having an historical event, and could they please let the people through, with their muskets and cannon? It has never been a problem, other than checking for the usual documentation.

We go back and forth here on the northern border.
 
There must have been other circumstances. An UNLOADED muzzleloader behind the seat? I can see(so-to-speak) the 'concealed' part, but until it is loaded it can only be viewed and used as a club. If he had the balls, caps and powder in the same compartment (truck cab) it might be considered as 'readily available', though I really don't see anyone packing a ball with a 3' ramrod, in a truck cab, in time to effect a shot before the victim to be walks away.
I built a Colt 1852 revlover kit years ago. Curious that I might need to register the 'firearm' I called the San Antonio Police to ask. I was told "no." I expressed disbelief and argued a bit, long story short, I was told quote, "It is not a weapon." I replied that quite a high percentage of combatants in the Civil War likely believed otherwise and hung up.
 
Victory, my pistol permit says I am licensed to carry for hunting and trapping, also for transporting to a firing range. That leaves me a LOT of room since I belong to a local Rod & Gun club that operates a firing range. Of course it does not allow for concealed carry, unless I'm on my own property, and that's another issue.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top