Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> California Criminal Defense Blog

Criminal Law

: California Criminal Defense Blog

Assault with a Deadly Weapon or Assault with a Firearm?

By Neil Shous, Esq.

The answer to this question can be somewhat confusing under California law. Take for example, a situation where someone points a gun at someone else. While it would seem like this would be an obvious violation of California?s ?assault with a firearm? law, it isn?t. And before we could say whether this qualifies as an assault with a deadly weapon (ADW) or an assault with a firearm, some other questions would have to be answered first. Was the gun loaded? If not, these circumstances don?t violate California?s ?assault with a firearm law? because there is no actual ability to shoot someone. But instead let?s say that rather than pointing the unloaded gun at another person, the individual used the gun to ?pistol whip? the victim. Under these circumstances, the offense could be either an assault with a firearm or an ADW...continue to full post

Full post as published by California Criminal Defense Blog on May 25, 2010 (boomark / email).