Not Exercising Your Right To Bear Arms In A Virtuous Manner
BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 10 months ago
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Having a few too many at home shouldn’t make handling one’s own firearm illegal, according to an Ohio man challenging his arrest on a charge of possessing a weapon while intoxicated.
The Ohio Supreme Court plans to hear arguments in his case Tuesday, with a decision not expected for several weeks.
Attorneys for defendant Fred Weber say the 2018 arrest was unconstitutional because he was in his own home and the weapon was unloaded. Weber was arrested in southwestern Ohio by sheriff’s deputies after Weber’s wife placed a 4 a.m. 911 call saying her husband had a gun and was drunk.
Inside Weber’s house, deputies saw Weber holding an unloaded shotgun in his hand with the barrel pointed down, according to court records. Weber told officers he was drunk, and officers described him as “highly intoxicated,” the records show.
Weber’s attorneys argue that Weber never should have been charged or convicted under current law, since there was no evidence the shotgun was being carried with an intent to use it.
Furthermore, the law itself is flawed because it means nearly anyone with a gun at home who also consumes alcohol is breaking the law, Weber’s attorneys argued in a filing with the Ohio Supreme Court last year.
“Whether one is drunk or sober should have nothing to do with the right to possess a firearm in the hearth and home,” said attorney Gary Rosenhoffer in an Aug. 20, 2019, filing. As a result, the law is a violation of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, Rosenhoffer argued.
Prosecutors disagree with Weber’s argument and say the law was constitutional as applied to his situation.
By handling his weapon while he was drunk, Weber scared his wife enough that she felt compelled to call police, Nick Horton, a Clermont County assistant prosecutor, said in a Sept. 18 filing.
Weber, “by holding his firearm while intoxicated, was not exercising his right to bear arms in a virtuous manner,” the prosecutor said.
Not only do we have a police/prosecutor state that can predict the future with red flag laws, but they can also decide what’s virtuous and what’s not.
On February 26, 2020 at 10:59 am, Paul Bonneau said:
“…Weber’s wife placed a 4 a.m. 911 call saying her husband had a gun and was drunk.”
It’s important to marry the right woman.
On February 26, 2020 at 4:34 pm, 15Fixer said:
This guy needs to put his wife up on the consignment rack, see how much he can get for her. I’m thinking…… not a lot……
On February 26, 2020 at 9:19 pm, Fred said:
But wait, that means that there is a virtuous way deploy a firearm. See, now this is something I can work with.