If you’re going to break the law, don’t write about it
Via Gun Law News, meet Aubrey Ellen Shomo who went out and took a class to get her handgun carry permit (good for her). However, she decided that attempting to get said permit would be for the benefit of posting an article at Democratic Underground to make fun of gun nuts and the CCW process. It concludes with:
A few days later, I got my certificate in the mail. I am now qualified for a concealed weapons permit.
You’ll note the weasel words that imply she has a permit but she actually states she’s merely qualified for one. To me, that intimates she doesn’t actually have one and that’s a good thing because on another page she maintains, she writes:
I am a twenty-one-year-old psychiatric survivor. I found my way into the system at eight, by way of a child psychiatric hospital unit. Deemed to have a chronic psychotic disorder, I would remain a mental patient for eight years.
During that time, I was hospitalized seven times, all but the first two against my will, treated with numerous medications, and diagnosed with everything from Schizoaffective Disorder or Psychotic Bipolar Disorder through emerging cluster B personality pathology. My most painful memories are of being held down by five men in a seclusion room.
I left the system at 16, when I was old enough to fire my psychiatrist.
Unfortunately for her, according to the Colorado State Shooting Association, anyone precluded by state or federal law from owning a firearm may not obtain a permit (see question F on ATF form 4473). So, Ms. Shomo, you are not qualified for a concealed weapons permit because you were locked up in a mental institution. I hope you’ve not applied to get said permit because to do so would involve lying on the application and that is illegal. In the event that you actually did get a permit, you have violated state law.
December 16th, 2005 at 12:57 pm
I at least hope you were polite enough to email her and tell her the error of her ways???
K
December 16th, 2005 at 1:00 pm
Nah, I figure someone will.
December 16th, 2005 at 1:01 pm
If she lied on the form, she broke a law. If she didn’t, I seriously doubt she violated a penal statute simply by applying for, let alone receiving, a permit that the state ought to have denied.
December 16th, 2005 at 1:05 pm
Actually:
December 16th, 2005 at 4:50 pm
I thought there was a time limit on the federal form. Such as medication or treatment in the last 5 years. If all medication and treatment stopped at 16, she should be ok.
December 16th, 2005 at 4:57 pm
Cube, not according to any law I found or ATF’s form 4473 which is linked above.
December 16th, 2005 at 6:53 pm
I’m not sure why the ATF form is relevant, since that’s not the one she filled out. This form probably is, and question 9 is similar: “Have you ever been adjudicated mentally defective (which includes having been adjudicated incompetent to manage your own affairs) or have you ever been committed to a mental institution?” It doesn’t expressly state that a “yes” answer is an automatic disqualification. In fact, the instructions suggest the opposite: “If you answer ‘yes’ to questions one through fifteen, provide a detailed explanation on a separate sheet and attach it to this form.”
Do we have any reason to believe she lied on question 9?
December 16th, 2005 at 10:28 pm
I would assume so. Since she said the form asked a similar question.
December 17th, 2005 at 3:16 pm
But for all we know, maybe she filled out the form correctly, provided a brief explanation for Question 9, and the cops issued the permit. In that case, the only question is whether or not the cops erred in issuing the permit, not whether she broke any laws herself in obtaining it.
December 17th, 2005 at 3:20 pm
Possible but unlikely. I don’t even think she has a permit based on what she wrote.
December 17th, 2005 at 5:10 pm
Do you have reason to think she’s lying? What other kind of “certificate” would she have received in the mail?
December 17th, 2005 at 5:12 pm
Nevermind – I just re-read it and answered my own question. It sounds like she hasn’t even applied for a CCW, let alone received one. She may, however, have violated 18 U.S.C. 922 simply by touching the gun used in the class.
December 17th, 2005 at 6:08 pm
Then again, depending on how courts interpret “knowingly violates” in 18 U.S.C. 924(a)(2), she may have the CNN defense.
December 17th, 2005 at 10:55 pm
I hate to post four comments in a row, but here’s some interesting case law on what does or does not count as a commitment:
http://www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/ids/Defender%20Training/Civil%20Commitment%202004/FirearmConseq.pdf
My guess is that since she was able to un-commit herself as soon as she turned 16, she was probably in their “voluntarily” (by her parents’ consent) from start to finish. If so, it’s likely that for purposes of federal law, she was never “committed.”
December 19th, 2005 at 12:21 am
[…] Aubrey Ellen Shomo (h/t: Say Uncle) tried a comparable stunt under Colorado’s citizen-friendly concealed carry law. While CNN sought to show how easy it was to obtain “assault” weapons “legally” in other states, Shomo sought to show how easy it was for nutcakes with long psychiatric histories to carry concealed weapons. Shomo writes: I’m a pacifist, but, recently, I’ve been thinking about getting a concealed weapons permit. I want to be able to call myself “The Packing Pacifist.” It would go over well with my conservative relatives. Also, it could be fun to show people my permit and my psychiatric records at the same time. […]
December 19th, 2005 at 9:16 am
[…] Xrlq has more on Aubrey Ellen Shomo, who may have violated the law by taking a CCW class. I discussed her here. […]