[mzmtg]

Scenario: An independent contractor is fixing the sidewalk at a park that happens to be hosting a concert. If he is carrying at the park during the concert but is not affiliated with or attending the concert, is he still at the public gathering?

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

Yep.

"to or while at"

and case law establishing the areas immediately adjacent to the gathering . . .

I would have to come down on the side of declaring a violation.

 

[Gunstar1]

If there are concert goers anywere close to where the contractor is, it is a public gathering.

How far... well the only thing I know for sure is that 100 yards away is still a PG.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

the only thing I know for sure is that 100 yards away is still a PG.

Why?

 

[Gunstar1]

You posted it!!! :mrgreen:
(actually you quoted it)

I found it, a portion of Farmer v. State, 112 Ga.App. 438 (1965).

In Bice v. State, it appeared that the defendant carried a bottle of whiskey to a church, where people were assembled for worship, in his buggy and the buggy was left standing from 100 to 200 yards from the church. His conviction was affirmed, and in doing so the court observed that 'a fair and even strict construction requires us to hold that, when it forbids carrying intoxicating liquor to a church, it means also to forbid its introduction to a place in such immediate proximity to the church building as to make it readily accessible to those who may desire to use it.

I took that to mean immediate proximity is within 100 (or greater) yards away.

 

[Gunstar1]

So, a public gathering is an event, not a place, right?

Close.
The locations specifically named in the law are off limits. So a church or publicly owned building is a place that is a public gathering, period.

However since the law says that a PG is not limited to just those places listed, the "event" is used to try to figure out what other places (and the area around it) might be a public gathering.

 

[USMC - Retired]

However since the law says that a PG is not limited to just those places listed, the "event" is used to try to figure out what other places (and the area around it) might be a public gathering.

I hate to disagree with you GS1 but, I strongly suspect that the "event" clause was added to the law by anti-gun lawmakers as a way to introduce ambiguity into the law and take the teeth out of the lion, so to speak.

 

[Gunstar1]

However since the law says that a PG is not limited to just those places listed, the "event" is used to try to figure out what other places (and the area around it) might be a public gathering.

I hate to disagree with you GS1 but, I strongly suspect that the "event" clause was added to the law by anti-gun lawmakers as a way to introduce ambiguity into the law and take the teeth out of the lion, so to speak.

Actually it is the other way around. The "event" is used by courts to figure out what the difference between a "public place" and a "public gathering" is.

It was the courts that said a "public place" only becomes a "public gathering" when people come together for a particular event. The courts were trying to remove or at least define some of the ambiguity in the law.

 

[mzmtg]

You posted it!!! :mrgreen:
(actually you quoted it)

I found it, a portion of Farmer v. State, 112 Ga.App. 438 (1965).

In Bice v. State, it appeared that the defendant carried a bottle of whiskey to a church, where people were assembled for worship, in his buggy and the buggy was left standing from 100 to 200 yards from the church. His conviction was affirmed, and in doing so the court observed that 'a fair and even strict construction requires us to hold that, when it forbids carrying intoxicating liquor to a church, it means also to forbid its introduction to a place in such immediate proximity to the church building as to make it readily accessible to those who may desire to use it.

I took that to mean immediate proximity is within 100 (or greater) yards away.

I hope this doesn't apply to bus stops too. :evil:

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

Bus stops? No. The public gathering clause is "immediate proximity." Bus stops are a "reasonable distance." Since the rule is designed to prevent the harm contemplated (gunshot?), we must construe it in accord with its intended purpose. With that context in mind, we hold that a "reaonable distance" is the reach of a bullet, approximately one mile and a half.

:shock:

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

However since the law says that a PG is not limited to just those places listed, the "event" is used to try to figure out what other places (and the area around it) might be a public gathering.

Rather than "event," I believe the term in State v. Burns was "a particular function."

Is the meaning different? Can a particular function be less than an event?

 

[Gunstar1]

Is the meaning different? Can a particular function be less than an event?

churches or church functions
political rallies or functions
athletic or sporting events

I will have to look more but I have a feeling that their is a difference. :-k

 

[Gunstar1]

Or maybe not...

event:
1 a : a noteworthy happening b : a social occasion or activity
2 : any of the contests in a program of sports

function:
1 : an official or formal ceremony or social gathering

 

[curtdiss]

so you can stand at the bus stop

you just can't get on the bus armed

another stupid law :roll:

 

[Gunstar1]

so you can stand at the bus stop

you just can't get on the bus armed

another stupid law :roll:

No, a bus stop is off limits.
A terminal is off limits and a terminal is a bus stop.

 

[mzmtg]

Heck, you can't even stand within a "reasonable distance" of a bus stop.

That's the stupidest part of that particular law.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

So how does one prove, at trial, that he was indeed not within a "reasonable distance" from a bus stop?

Like Alice's restaurant, with the 8 x 10 glossy photos . . .

Scale drawings with measurements . . .

I was 23 feet, four inches away . . .

Any ideas?

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

How does the state prove that you were within a reasonable distance?

Any ideas?

 

[ber950]

How does the state prove that you were within a reasonable distance?

Any ideas?

I have always felt that the way to challange the off-limit statute is there vaugeness. I know that the GA Supreme Court has overturned other laws on that grounds. I wish I could remember which cases. I think one had to do with strip clubs.
Looking up case law is not my forte

 

[jrm]

How does the state prove that you were within a reasonable distance?

Any ideas?

Yes. Whoever it was that witnessed the carrying is competent to testify how far apart two things (i.e., the bus stop and the "perp") were from each other. Court's routinely allow witnesses to testify about their perceptions of measured amounts, despite the fact that many people are lousy at estimating things like distance and speed.

it will be up to the jury to decide whether to believe the distance sworn to by the witness, and whether said distance was reasonable.