Minnesota’s highest court ruled yesterday that an air-powered BB gun should not be classified as a firearm in the eye of the law.
“Today, we have clarified the plain meaning of ‘firearm,'” the majority said in their decision.
The ruling led to the dropping of firearm-possession charges against David Haywood. According to the police report, Haywood was driving in St. Paul when he was found to be in violation of a restraining order. A subsequent search of his car revealed that he was carrying an air-powered BB gun in his glove compartment. A condition of a previous felony charge stated that Haywood was not to carry any firearms, so police charged Haywood with possession of a firearm upon finding the BB gun.
Reverses Lower Court Ruling
The holding by the state Supreme Court reverses an earlier opinion by a lower court. The previous court ruled that the BB gun was a “dangerous weapon” and therefore met enough of the classification of a firearm under the state’s law. However, the Minnesota Supreme Court disagreed, saying the air-powered gun was not a “firearm.”
“Here, Haywood was in possession of an air-powered BB gun: a Walther CP99 Compact pistol, which fires a projectile measuring .177 of an inch in diameter, using compressed air—not gunpowder or any other explosive force—as a propellant. Under the plain and ordinary meaning of the term ‘firearm,’ Haywood’s air-powered BB gun is not a firearm, and thus Haywood’s possession of it did not violate section 609.165″
In its ruling, the Minnesota Supreme Court pointed to the dictionary definition of a firearm, which suggests that a firearm discharges a projectile through the expenditure of gunpowder or other explosive device. They did not feel that CO2 met the definition of an “explosive device,” meaning the weapon could not be considered a firearm, and Haywood was not in violation of the law banning felons from possessing firearms.
