Is it illegal to tell a murderer where to find a gun if you think they might kill someone?

Question

so, hypothetically, you know some person, they are evil or whatever, they murder people all the time just for fun, and they ask you where they can find a gun but you dont know that they will kill someone for certain, maybe they just want to go hunting... and u tell them how to obtain one and they do kill someone anyways with that gun. have you or have you not commited a crime than and why is that so?

Answer 1

Probably not.
There are two types of "accomplice liability" -- there's conspiracy-- that means two or more people had a plan to do something illegal, and took steps to accomplish the illegal act. To be in the conspiracy you have to be aware of an object of the conspiracy (although you don't have to know of all of the full depth of the conspiracy or every possible outcome of it). This doesn't work here because the murderer guy didn't talk to you about committing murder, and you didn't "contractually agree" to be in the conspiracy (by word or by action)
Next is accomplice liability -- "aiding and abetting" -- in other words you gave material aid and support to the criminal. But this also requires that you knew (or had reason to know) of the illicit act and still gave aid anyway, however being "willfully blind" does not insulate you (e.g. "Yeah, this guy said he would pay me $10,000 to drive this car 10 miles, but whatever you do don't look in the trunk, so I didn't know I was a drug mule" doesn't work). Here, that sort of liability probably does not apply because you have no knowledge that the guy will actually use the weapon to kill someone. We're close to the willfully blind rule because you've told us that this guy is a killer, you know he murders people all of the time, and he's asking for a gun. It's a close call, but unless you had a good reason to believe that he would use this guy to kill people, and you provided the gun, you may be culpable.

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EDIT -- people read too much into "aiding and abetting a known felon." That's not a crime in itself, because otherwise every work program, literacy program, and charity probably would be guilty of giving "aid" to a "felon." You have to be aiding and abetting a CRIME, OR (something I didn't discuss above) be an "accessory after the fact" (the only type of "accessory" that's recognized by modern american law)-- there, you're guilty for giving "aid" to a person, not because he's a felon, but because he's not been apprehended -- you're helping him to hide, or secret away assets, or avoid detection.

Three examples:

Guy X wants to rob store Y with a gun.

You're liable as a co-conspirator if Guy X tells you of his plan, you tell him how to get a gun, guy X gets gun and robs store.

You're liable for "aiding and abetting" if you're in the store, Guy X tries to rob, the store manager brings out a gun and you jump him, knocking his gun away from the ground (even if you didn't plan to do this... you just thought Guy X should win).

You're liable as an "accessory after the fact" if Guy X is your son, he comes home, says "the cops are after me" and you burn his clothes, keep watch at the door, and slowly funnel the money through your cash register at your workplace.

Make sense?

Answer 2

Whether or not you committed a crime is irrelevant. You knew this person was dangerous, and chances were likely they would commit a crime if able to obtain a gun. A good lawyer could certainly make a case for you being a contributing factor the his commission of a crime. It's the same as a bar knowingly serving alcohol to a drunk. He goes out, drives drunk and kills someone, is the bar liable? Absolutely. Why not be on the safe end, and not contribute to this person's bad behavior by helping him get his hands on a gun?

Answer 3

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Answer 4

aidding and abetting...

at the very least criminal negligence if you KNOW this person has killed people and is likely to kill again. More than likely, accessory or aiding and abetting.

Answer 5

Have you ever heard of aiding and abetting a known felon?

Answer 6

yep

Answer 7

yes .....accessory to murder