Actor faces decade in prison for Airsoft gun in NJ
According to the Associated Press, Carlo Goias, a comedian and actor, was playing the part of a drug lord’s body guard in a low-budget movie that was being filmed in New Brunswick, New Jersey. They just finished a car-chase that had concerned some of the residents who witnessed the scene. The crew was surrounded by police who took Goias into custody for possession of an unregistered Airsoft pistol. He spent four days locked up while friends and family raised his $10,000 bail. The movie’s budget was only $50,000. Anyway, Goias has priors which could net him a decade in jail;
Some state lawmakers say the case highlights the need for New Jersey to change its gun laws.
The permit law recently led to the arrest of a Pennsylvania corrections officer who lacked a New Jersey permit for a gun that was legal in his home state. The charges were later dropped.
Airsoft guns fire nonlethal plastic pellets. Nearly half of the states and many cities regulate the weapons to some degree, according to the San Francisco-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
New Jersey defines all non-powder guns as firearms, which require a permit to carry them. State lawmakers are pushing legislation that would give prosecutor’s more discretion in filing charges under the statute.
Everyday, I read stories about folks using Airsoft guns to stick up convenience stores, or they point the guns at police and get ventilated, but clearly this isn’t one of those cases. But, hey, I guess the prosecutor thought that his case was sexy enough for him to get exposure in the media with very little risk. And then we wonder why kids are suspended from schools for pointing finger guns at classmates or making Pop-Tart guns.
Category: Dumbass Bullshit
No doubt we’ll all sleep easier at night knowing a G-List actor is locked away due to some dipshit legislation in one of the most corrupt states in the nation….
I guess I can start busting actors for stolen valor, too.
Yep. Start with Tom Cruise.
Dumbass. Acting is just like being a grunt.
What a load of crap.
Tom Cruise is a vag…
Yes, I went there.
No, Tom Cruise has a vag…
I went there too
Tom Cruise is very prone to cervical cancer.
And anal.
Do dumb things, win dumb prizes.
Thing is that the director is the one who did the stupid stuff. It was his job to make sure they had the required permits.
He instead decided that they were too expensive and that they would just shoot quick and no one would notice.
The actor is under arrest because his director didn’t do his job. Not the actors job to make sure all the permits are in order.
Given the fact that there was no intent to commit a crime, you’d think a reasonable prosecutor would use his discretion to…
Reasonable prosecutor…
I keed, I keed.
This is New Jersey we’re talking about.
An actor?—-lock ’em all up! (Well, maybe not all of them.
Aren’t Donald and Mickey actors?
“New Jersey defines all non-powder guns as firearms, which require a permit to carry them.”
So, to whom do I speak before entering the state with my two glue guns and one staple gun?
My goodness, the ridiculousness is overwhelming.
X200!
To me, Airsoft guns are TOYS that my sons played with. Sure, the little yellow pellets make a mess, but they’re still TOYS.
Doesn’t New Jersey have enough REAL crime to deal with?
You saw how deadly those nail guns are in The Equalizer.
And cap guns too!
Well GOOD foah Nooh Joizey, gotta keep dem Airsoft-totin’ Actors offa da streets, right?
This is the kind of bullshit gun laws that Chris “Cameltoe” Christie thinks are “sensible.”
And then he wonders why he got his fat ass handed to him in the primaries.
Christie is a RINO’s RINO.
No he’s actually a RHINO…Republican Halfton Is No Option…
Oh Know !!!!!!
A SCARY Black air soft gun !!!!!!!!
HELP !!!!!!
I can’t stand it anymore
Maybe some angry film unions got involved and pushed this thing?
Well it’s about time! All these kids playing with deadly squirt guns are next. And that crowd-inciting bakery that makes cookies in the shape of weapons, don’t forget them. Why don’t we just lock everyone up who uses the word gun in a sentence? Finally, when we were young and watched the old spaghetti cowboy and Indians movies, hopefully now they will destroy those movies as gun porno. Yep, that’s where youngsters get the idea to use guns in any situation. Don’t need no Indians to make us see what’s happening. Guns is a four letter word, don’t you see? Let’s rid this country of all the violence. If you ain’t a criminal, then off to the pokey you go if you even think or talk guns.
Sarc. off.
And F__k off to all you politicians who believe this garbage only to get re-elected.
After several cases and appeals, in NJ it was determined that Paintball guns were NOT firearms under the current definition of the law based on how the projectile propelled, (See Top Gun Paintball vs NJ ruling 4/22/1988, upheld 11/22/1988) wonder how Airsoft guns are any different by definition here???
There is no “cartridge” here as was defined as a complete unit of ammunition assembly containing case, powder, primer and bullet in those cases.
I don’t know, Olaf. Just googled up New Jersey’s definition of a Firearm and got this:
” It shall also include, without limitation, any
firearm which is in the nature of an air gun, spring gun or pistol or other weapon of a similar nature in which the
propelling force is a spring, elastic band, carbon dioxide, compressed or other gas, or vapor, air or compressed air, or
is ignited by compressed air, and ejecting a bullet or missile smaller than three-eighths of an inch in diameter, with
sufficient force to injure a person.”
To me, this seems… insane.
This is ridiculous and would never hold up to a Supreme court challenge but the money and time he would spend fighting it will destroy his livelihood and diminish his future.
There is not just 2nd Amendment, but also 1st Amendment issues since the toy was a prop for a movie.
There is also the inherent 8th amendment issues with these kinds of stiff penalties for people with previous crimes for which they already served the penalty.
This is wrong on so many levels.
And it is stupid.