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American arrested in Turks and Caicos over ammo found in bag gets suspended sentence of 52 weeks* (www.cbsnews.com)

submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by Wilshire to c/world

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Hagerich was one of several Americans facing a potential mandatory minimum sentence of 12 years in prison on ammunition charges in Turks and Caicos.

goes looking for the actual law

So, this appears to be the relevant section of the criminal code. I'm not sure how they got to 12 years. But there are different rules that take into account intent:

https://gov.tc/agc/component/edocman/18-09-firearms-ordinance-2/viewdocument/1232?Itemid=

Here's the one I believe is applicable with intent to injure, which has a ten year minimum:

Penalty for possessing firearms with intent to injure

Any person who has in his possession any firearm or ammunition with intent by means thereof to endanger life or cause injury to property, or to enable any other person by means thereof to endanger life or cause injury to property, whether any injury to person or property has been caused or not, commits an offence and is liable on conviction on indictment to a mandatory term of imprisonment of not less than ten years with a maximum term of imprisonment for life and a fine without limit. (Substituted by Ord. 28 of 2010 and Amended by Ord. 8 of 2018)

Here's the one without intent to injure, just possession, which has a seven year minimum:

Firearm to be licensed

(1) No person (other than a licensed gunsmith in the course of his trade) shall keep, carry, discharge or use any firearm or ammunition unless he is the holder of a firearm licence with respect to such firearm, or in case of ammunition he is the holder of a licence for a firearm which takes that ammunition. (2) No person licensed under subsection (1) shall keep a greater number of ammunition than is specified in his licence. (3) A person who contravenes subsection (1) or (2) commits an offence and is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term of not less than seven years but not exceeding fifteen years and a fine without limit. (Amended by Ords. 28 of 2010 and 8 of 2018)

I don't think that the issue was that the legislators didn't account for intent to cause harm.

That being said, I also do think that it's plausible that the legislators were operating under the assumption that anyone in-country couldn't have gotten ahold of any ammunition other than via going way out of their way to do it, whereas if someone's flying in from where it's everywhere, it's a lot easier to inadvertently wind up with it.

I don't think that the law is, in its present form, a good idea, though. I mean, even if you consider purely-domestic cases, there have to be cases where someone can accidentally wind up with ammunition. Okay, maybe we place an onus on international travelers to specially check their luggage. But, what happens if, I don't know, some cop screws up and leaves a magazine somewhere? Someone doesn't notice the thing, and bundles it up with some other stuff to a lost-and-found. That looks to be sufficient to violate the law as it stands, but I can't imagine that it's be reasonable for every person to inspect everything they're picking up with a seven year minimum sentence at stake. The only person there who I think could reasonably have acted differently would have been the cop, but the law would punish random-lost-and-found guy.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago

Thank you for your reply and maintaining my faith that intelligent life still posts on Lemmy.