Post # 1 1. Amber Beaufort just purchased a new Glock handgun and has started carrying it with her when he goes out to restaurants and bars. in violation of Maryland law. She goes to have a few drinks at R.J. Bentleys in College Park, MD and takes the gun with her. When she gets there she sees Charlie, a guy who used to bully her in high school, and she goes up to Charlie and points the handgun at him and says "Remember me. I'm going to kill you". Charlie is frightened and turns and runs out of the bar. The handgun, however, is not loaded. Realizing that she forgot to load the Glock, Amber goes into the bathroom and loads it and then returns to the bar. At that point, she sees one of her friends, Monica and decides to have a little fun and scare her. Amber pulls out the loaded Glock and points it at Monica with the intent to scare her. As she does so, however, Monica turns her back to Amber and never sees Amber or the gun. Amber later tells Monica what she did and Monica becomes upset that Amber pointed a loaded handgun at her. After being at the bar for a few hours and having a few drinks, Amber decides to move to dance floor and do a back flip. As Amber does her flip, her gun falls to the floor in the very crowded bar and accidentally fires a round into a patron name Max. Max is taken to the hospital with a superficial injury.
a. Can Amber be charged with any crimes as it relates to Charlie? If so, for what crime? Does it matter that the gun was unloaded? Why or why not?
b. Can Amber be charged with any crimes as it relates to Monica? If so, for what crime? If not, why?
c. Can Amber be charged with any crimes as it relates to Max? If so, for what crime? If not, why?
Post #2 Possession of a gun is a closely regulated issue in the United States. According to the Second Amendment, it is the right of every American to bear arms as the constitution sees this as an aspect of a regulated militia that is necessary for the protection of a free country (Cottrol & Mocsary, 2016). Based on this fact. many Americans have always sought to keep and bear arms. This has made it necessary for the federal government as well as the various states that makes up the union to come up with laws that legislate how the firearms are to be acquired, requirements for qualification to bear arms as well as when and how they should be used by those that bear them (Spitzer, 2017). This paper seeks to provide responses as regards the case study on Amber Beaufort's behavior while in possession of a gun.
Amber Beaufort can be charged for a criminal offence as regards her encounter with Charlie. Although the gun was not loaded, it is illegal to threaten someone by pointing them with a weapon such as a gun. This is not only illegal in the state of Maryland, but also in every state in the United States. The crime of pointing the gun at Charlie is called brandishing (Gabor, 2016). Brandishing of a deadly weapon goes beyond just pointing the gun at someone; it also encompasses exhibiting the gun in an angry, rude or threatening fashion in front of a person. Thus it is not a matter of if the gun is loaded or not, but rather more about the behavior that accompany it, which can either be threatening, rude or angry as described above. In the case of Charlie, the brandishing of the gun by Amber Beaufort at him made him feel threatened and thus he ran away, thus justifying that whatever Amber did was illegal because even if the gun was not loaded, Charlie was not aware of that and therefore he was scared and had to save his life by running away.
Monica did not witness Amber Beaufort brandishing the loaded gun at her. Though it is illegal to brandish a gun at someone, whether loaded or not, there must be a witness to the act in order for it to be adjudicated and labeled as a crime. In this scenario, Monica did not witness it, and there is no information that any other person did. This therefore means it is difficult to convict Amber of the crime. Had it been witnessed, Amber would have been convicted of the crime of brandishing a loaded gun, which carries a longer sentence than that of brandishing an unloaded weapon. In this scenario however, she can be charged for possession of a deadly weapon in a bar, which is public place and thus constitutes a crime.
1) The punishment for brandishing could be minimum jail sentence of 30 days up to 3 months to 1 year and a fine up to $1000 if it's a midemeanor but as a felony, you face up to 3 years in state prison. Which one would you think she should be charged with? why?
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