Sherman & Plano, TX Criminal Defense Lawyer BlogBe careful what you Tweet for… Sherman & Plano, TX Criminal Defense Lawyer
A 17 year old in Tarrant County was arrested for tweeting a picture of picture of an airsoft rifle aimed at a marked Fort Worth police vehicle and “Should I do it? They Don’t Care For a Black Male Anyways.” Police justified their arrest, despite the rifle being an airsoft, under the Texas terroristic threat law, penal code 22.07 which states: (a) A person commits an offense if he threatens to commit any offense involving violence to any person or property with intent to: (1) cause a reaction of any type to his threat by an official or volunteer agency organized to deal with emergencies; (2) place any person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury; (3) prevent or interrupt the occupation or use of a building, room, place of assembly, place to which the public has access, place of employment or occupation, aircraft, automobile, or other form of conveyance, or other public place; (4) cause impairment or interruption of public communications, public transportation, public water, gas, or power supply or other public service; (5) place the public or a substantial group of the public in fear of serious bodily injury; or (6) influence the conduct or activities of a branch or agency of the federal government, the state, or a political subdivision of the state.
Here, Mr. Toliver will have a great defense that he did not make a threat against any actual peace officer. The State’s best argument will be that he threatened violence to property to cause a reaction by an emergency organization. It will be an interesting case to follow.
The “prohibited person” statute under federal law, defining who can possess a firearm and who cannot, is pretty straight forward. You will be surprised to learn the many classes of people who cannot possess a firearm, not just convicted felons. If you meet one of these categories, it is a federal felony to possess a firearm or ammunition. I usually don’t copy and paste whole statutes, but the statutes are pretty straight forward. 18 U.S.C. 922(g) states, with the assistance of my commentary in caps and parentheses, that:
Federal law, especially 18 U.S.C. section 922, provides additional limitations on where you can carry. First, it outlaws a person “knowingly to possess a firearm that has moved in or that otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone.” The term “school zone” means A) in, or on the grounds of, a parochial or private school; or B) within a distance of 1,000 feet from the grounds of a public, parochial, or private school. “School” means a school which provides elementary or secondary eduaction, as determined under State Law. This Federal section does not apply to possession of a firearm 1) on private property not part of school grounds; 2) to a person properly licensed to carry in a school zone; 3) a firearm that is unloaded and locked in a container or on a rack; 4) for use in a program approved by a school in the school zone; 5) or that is unloaded and possessed by an individual while traversing school premises for the purpose of gaining access to public or private lands open to hunting. 18 U.S.C. section 930 additioanlly prohibits carrying weapons on the actual premises (buildings and parts thereof) of property owned or leased by the Federal government or by the Federal Courts.
It is in the news daily that guns and ammunition are selling at record rates. This article is to help you understand some of the current law regarding your right to bear arms, primarily the places you are not allowed to carry in Texas. Concealed license holders have a more extensive set of rules that are not focused on here.