Earlier this week we shared a story about the Nevada Supreme court deciding that convicted felons are prohibited from possessing even antique or collectible muzzle loading and black powder rifles. In general however, weapons violations are charged in the connection with another crime, such as charges related to violent crimes or drug possession and trafficking.

There are some other instances in which weapons charges can arise despite the absence of any other criminal activity. One of those is a juvenile in possession of a weapon on school property. Schools and law enforcement officials generally have a zero tolerance policy as to weapons on school property. They often take incidental possession, such as a hunting rifle forgotten in a truck on the way to school, very seriously.

In this school year alone, police officers have almost two dozen air rifles and BB guns from students. It is not clear how many, if any of these incidents, were cases where there was a legitimate threat that possessor the BB gun or air rifle might have intended to use the weapon. This week police made another arrest of a juvenile when he was found to have had a gun on school property.

In this case the police have explicitly indicated that the teenager had not threatened anyone and that they did not believe that the teen intended to use the gun. Even where there is no intent to use the gun in any way, weapons charges like these can have serious consequences for a juvenile suspect.

Source: Channel 13 Action News, "16-year-old arrested with loaded gun on high school campus," Joyce Lupiani, Jan. 31, 2012