Can Anything "Legally" Be Called A Weapon?

Question

It seems that any type of object if it were even meant to cause harm is initially identified as a criminal activity with a weapon for intent.

Can eventually "sneezing" and causing someone else to catch it become a crime?

Is the justice system getting better or finding new ways to incriminate and take ordinary peole's money and lives.

Do you have ideas if this should be stopped?

Answer 1

From memory all weapons are a written list. e.g. until hit and run accidents occured, cars were not considered weapons. On the other hand, when a boxer (can't remember his name) was attacked in his home (in aust, you're not allowed to defend yourself with weapons or you'll be up on charges too), he picked up a telephone directory and beat the crap out of his assailant with it. If he had used his fists, they were considered weapons, he would have been arrested.
I also know some countries now are banning people with colds from attending public places (I think japan has it, and Aust is trying to approve it). The cold is not a weapon, but considered "not nice" and those with it should stay at home so others don't catch it.

Answer 2

Certain items are defined as weapons simply by their design. Other items and acts are defined as weapons or dangerous acts by the intent and knowledge level of the possessor or "attacker". If you are holding a ballpoint pen and writing a message on a piece of paper this is not perceived as a weapon. That same pen held in a closed fist raised and perceived as a threat to another's well being is a weapon.

If some one knowingly has a deadly virus and does nothing to protect others from unknowingly contracting it by malicious means is an considered a dangerous / deadly act. Consider the idea of an identified H.I.V positive person having unprotected relations with another person and not informing them of their positive results. That person can be charged with attempted murder. Put yourself in the victim's position.

I believe that the authorities need to be aware of the latest threats and dangers and take reasonable action to protect others. These threats will always be there and may seem ridiculous at first or a very low risk, until you are affected. Then you will be screaming why didn't someone do something. Proactive measures are sometimes a nuisance, but as long a I live to another day safely I am willing to adhere to changes in rules and regulations for the safety of all.

We live in a different world from when we or our parents were children. We need to change with the times! I will step down off my soap box now.

Answer 3

Everything in the legal system goes by an unwritten guideline set of "common sense". It's basically expected or "normal" behavior for a person in society to display. If you're sneezing obviously a judge wont convict you for anything unless the intent was to harm a person's life. So they expect citizens to know they're basic behavioral expectation, anything out of the ordinary becomes punishable. Which is why you can't lay down near your vehicle in a parking lot. It goes against the logic system of expected normal behavior. They can call the police and tell you to move or whatever the case may be. But if you're doing something "normal" most of the time you wont be bothered. Unless you fit a suspicious description. Other than that expectation, Most all of the rest of the things in that system are about intent. I have shoe laces. They're not weapons, but if I knowingly take one off and strangle someone with it, for whatever reason, those shoelaces were weapons. So in answer to your question, yes, anything legally can be called a weapon, depending on your intent while using it. As for how it's to be stopped, I don't see it stopping any time soon for everyone including the governmental system goes by that same "normal" ideology of expected behavior. It's the basis to the "American Dream". Nice fresh american pie and a cup of joe, etc. Which is basically why no one wants to accept changes as though homosexual marriage and other issues that would effect one's "comfort zone" of how they imagine society should be in their lives.

Answer 4

Every year at the Daley Center in Chicago, the police display everything that has been smuggled into Cook County Lockup to be used as a weapon. The rule is that where there's a will there's a way. One felon actually tried to cut himself and bleed into an officer's eyes to infect him because the con knew he had HIV. With every case, it becomes harder and harder to classify just what constitutes a weapon. Unfortunate, but true. The few ruin things for the many. Unfortunate also that the only weapons the law has are fines and incarceration. We pay for our freedoms--often with money. B.

Answer 5

to be legally considered a weapon, an object has to either be classified as a weapon, or be used in the fashion of a weapon ... an icycle can be a weapon if it is used to stab someone as a knife, intent to harm is part of the code .... in most criminal charges, intent is specified in the charge. there have been cases of people who have had HIV who intentionally had unprotected sex with the intent to infect the participating partner who had no foreknowledge of the disease. the HIV infected person was charged with criminal assault with intent to kill.

in one class i took, the instructor (an ATF agent) had found a sharpened dime on a prisoner he was transporting. it was a weapon that could slash

where malice aforethought can be proved, there should be legal remedy to protect society

Answer 6

This is always open to interpretation by law enforcement and the judicial system. If a municipality defines a 3-1/2 inch knife as "street legal", but you cut somebody's throat with a 2 inch knife, you're still going to do the time. Better not carry what you don't want to be caught with and, like Teddy Roosevelt said, "Walk softly".

Answer 7

While using a hubcap to hit someone on the head can make the hubcap into a weapon, i don't think sneezing on someone can turn it into a biological attack, I mean there are circumstances where flinging escrement or ejaculating on someone will land you in serious trouble, but I mean the difference in these situations is clearly visible....

Answer 8

I think the sooner we go around in individual enclosed metal suits the better.
Extra 4 UR own filtered Air/Water supply.
U can C them catching on, can't U?
NOT!

But Yes I agree
It's a shame the World has become so Money orientated.

Answer 9

Not everthing is a weapon Only If u make it

Answer 10

to answer your question: look at your car keys, the sharpened pencil at your desk, the hand set of your telephone, all can be a weapon if we choose it to be.