handguns
Firearms applications need honest answers- Fairfax weapons lawyer
Firearms, including handguns, are very popular to purchase. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that some people are so excited or anxious to buy the perfect weapon they have found at the right price -- whether for recreation, safety or both -- at a...
Handgun violence – Part II – Fairfax criminal lawyer
Fairfax criminal lawyer on handling handgun violence and all violence. How do we stop murders if guns are not banned? I do not have a ready answer, but as a Fairfax criminal lawyer do have the below thoughts. Those who own guns should assure they...
Abandoned handguns and nearby fleeing suspects- Fairfax criminal lawyer
Fairfax criminal lawyer on the risks of fleeing suspects being convicted for nearby abandoned handguns
Abandoned handguns can convict nearby fleeing suspects. I know this as a Fairfax criminal lawyer, and Calvin Cardale Townes learned the same, as affirmed this week by the Virginia Court of...
Firearm purchase applications – Fairfax criminal lawyer says do not lie
Firearm purchase applications -- actually consent forms for firearm dealers to run police background checks of the purchaser of a handgun or other firearm -- ask whether the purchaser has been convicted of a felony offense. Va. Code § 18.2-308.2:2.
Firearm convictions are possible without gun’s recovery- VA criminal lawyer
Firearm convictions are possible without the weapon's recovery, at least when it has been fired. As a Virginia criminal/Second Amendment lawyer defending prosecutions for firearms, handguns, knives and other weapons, one of my first lines of defense in such cases is to attack whether the prosecutor...
Virginia- Unlawful firearm discharge means negligent discharge
Most crimes cannot be proven merely by committing the act -- known as actus reus -- but also require proof of criminal intent, known as mens rea. Generally, one of four levels of mens rea is required before a conviction may be obtained, namely purposeful,...
Dissenting federal appellate judge bemoans the Drug War’s toll on the Constitution
Nearly two generations of Americans, born since 1980, knows of no life other than that under the drug wars spurred during the Reagan administration, complete with metal detectors and other intrusive searches in schools without particularized suspicion; draconian drug sentencing regimes involving lengthy mandatory minimum...
Virginia cocaine and handgun defense – Mere presence of contraband in glovebox does not make driver liable
Some unpublished cases need to be published, including this month's Virginia Court of Appeals opinion concluding that the evidence was insufficient to convict a man driving a rental car without authorization, where the glove compartment contained a handgun and twenty grams of cocaine. Roy v....
Firearms & Handgun Defense – Beware state and federal court mandatory minimum sentencing
The National Rifle Association may have its allies among lawmakers and Republican presidents and governors, but that does not diminish the harsh mandatory minimum prison sentences risked by those convicted for committing certain crimes in conjunction with possessing firearms, and those convicted of possessing firearms...