Question
Walther PPK
Hey I live in AZ. I'm 19 and I was thinking of buying a CO2
powered bb pistol. Since I'm not 21 yet, I can't legally
carry my glock 23 but I'm still looking for a little
something for personal protection. The big question is, am I
going to get thrown in jail for carrying a bb pistol
concealed. I haven't been able to find anything clear on the
subject yet. Any help would be much appreciated.
AnswerBryan,
You aren't going to like my answer, but I am going to give you the honest truth. Carrying a BB gun for 'personal protection' is a big mistake in my view.
First, let's say you get in a situation where you need to use lethal force to protect yourself. You can't since you will only have a BB gun. A genuine handgun will not necessarily stop a determined attacker. A BB gun in this situation is less than useless.
If you use a BB gun to threaten lethal force without justification, you are just as guilty as you would be if you used a real gun since the BB gun you are thinking about is very similar in appearance to a real gun.
Second, if someone (law enforcement) sees you carrying a gun they are probably going to question you about it. You could potentially have issues depending on whether the officer in question considers the BB gun to be a 'firearm'.
Under the strict definition of a firearm in the Arizona Revised Statutes, the BB gun will qualify depending on how the law might be interpreted by the officer. You could potentially be arrested and prosecuted. You might not be convicted, but the defense could cost you a lot of money and now you also have an arrest record.
I would suggest the following:
First, you can legally carry openly. If you feel that you need to carry a firearm, that is a legal way you can do do.
Second, I would suggest that you simply be patient regarding concealed carry. If you need to consider self defense options when you cannot carry openly, I would suggest that you look at pepper spray or a folding knife or both.
Just so emphasize, I DO NOT suggest that you carry a concealed BB gun for personal protection or for any other reason...it is not worth the risk and it will do you no good if you really need to defend yourself.
Best regards,
Doug
