General Categories > Laws and Legislation
CCW while hunting
JTH:
--- Quote from: barmandr on November 20, 2015, 12:27:15 PM ---Yes, but one of the elements of the crime is that you are engaged in hunting. Read the title of the offense. If you are not engaged in hunting, you are not violating this section.
--- End quote ---
Courts won't see it that way. The clauses are separate.
--- Quote ---60-6,342. Snowmobiles; carrying firearms; hunting; unlawful.
It shall be unlawful for any person to shoot, take, hunt, or kill or attempt to shoot, take, hunt, or kill any wild animal or bird from or with a snowmobile or for any person to carry or possess any shotgun or rimfire rifle while operating or riding on a snowmobile, or for any person to carry or possess any firearm, bow and arrow, or other projectile device on a snowmobile unless such bow and arrow or projectile device is enclosed in a car carrying case or such firearm is unloaded and enclosed in a carrying case.
--- End quote ---
In the bold part above, note the "or." It doesn't say "hunting AND...." it says "or."
Here's what it means:
It shall be unlawful for any person to:
a) shoot, take, hunt, or kill or attempt to shoot, take, hunt, or kill any wild animal or bird from or with a snowmobile,
b) carry or possess any shotgun or rimfire rifle while operating or riding on a snowmobile,
c) carry or possess any firearm, bow and arrow, or other projectile device on a snowmobile unless such bow and arrow or projectile device is enclosed in a car carrying case or such firearm is unloaded and enclosed in a carrying case.
You'll note that "hunting" is only a part of the first one. If you do the second or third (whether hunting or not) the way the law is worded, you are still in trouble. They don't have to prove you had the firearm for hunting purposes. If you have it, you have broken the law.
Whether that is an intelligent law is a different discussion. In a similar fashion, whether that is what the law was originally meant to mean is a different discussion. If you have a firearm on you on a snowmobile and it isn't in a case, you are breaking this particular law.
Sandhillian:
--- Quote from: barmandr on November 20, 2015, 12:27:15 PM ---Yes, but one of the elements of the crime is that you are engaged in hunting. Read the title of the offense. If you are not engaged in hunting, you are not violating this section.
--- End quote ---
That's not accurate at all. The title of the offense is not the law, and it does not supply any element of the offense. The title is made by the Revisor of Statutes, not the Legislature. The elements are in the body of the statute.
If you break that statute into three parts, it's easier to understand. Section 60-6,342 makes it unlawful to:
(1) shoot, take, hunt, or kill or attempt to shoot, take, hunt, or kill any wild animal or bird from or with a snowmobile; or
(2) carry or possess any shotgun or rimfire rifle while operating or riding on a snowmobile; or
(3) carry or possess ANY firearm, bow and arrow, or other projectile device on a snowmobile UNLESS such bow and arrow or projectile device is enclosed in a car carrying case or such firearm is unloaded and enclosed in a carrying case.
All three of those things are criminalized by the statute, and the 2nd and 3rd have nothing to do with hunting. The only lawful way to have a firearm on a snowmobile is to have it unloaded and enclosed in a carrying case. It doesn't make any difference whether you are hunting or not.
The conservation officer you talked to might not ticket someone for the offense, but it's definitely possible if he wanted to. Don't expect any other law enforcement officer to read that statute the same as the CO. If you are carrying a concealed handgun on a snowmobile, you are breaking the law, period.
Sandhillian:
You beat me to the punch jthhapkido.
JTH:
--- Quote from: Sandhillian on November 20, 2015, 12:50:16 PM ---You beat me to the punch jthhapkido.
--- End quote ---
:)
Great minds think alike, etc, etc...
SemperFiGuy:
Just to fully flesh out the statute:
>No loaded, uncased slingshots
>No loaded, uncased peashooters, either.
(Both are projectile devices.)
I once called NG&P to find out the back story on this particular snowmobile statute, since it's so out of sync with all the other CHP no-carry prohibitions.
Talked to a whole chain of nice folks. Kept getting passed on up, down, and around the chain of inquiry. No one knew the official "why" of this statute. (We can all guess, but I wanted to hear someone say it out loud.)
Finally they sent me to the Been-There-Forever-Senior-Old-Guy-Officer. I posed the question. He thought about it for a good long while.
Then he said, "It's ALWAYS been that way."
I thanked him for the insightful information and then quietly hung up.
Perfect Bureaucratic Closeout: "It's ALWAYS been that way."
sfg
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