(US citizen) Sentenced over gun offence (carried firearm on airplane in India)

[davepc]

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_421166.html

AN INDIAN court has sentenced a 58-year-old American man to a year in prison and a fine after he attempted to board a flight here with a loaded pistol, a court official said on Tuesday.

Larry Sellmayer, from the US state of Arizona, was arrested in the southern city of Chennai on June 11 as he attempted to board a flight to Mumbai from where he was to take another plane back home.

He claimed that he was unaware of Indian firearms law and had previously arrived in Delhi and travelled to Chennai without getting caught.

The magistrates' court gave Sellmayer a temporary reprieve from prison until September 23, allowing him time to appeal the sentence, but he agreed to pay the fine of 5,000 rupees (S$144).

'If we fail to get the relief in the sessions court, we will move to the High Court,' Sellmayer's laywer P. Ganesan, said.

T

he American was found guilty under section 25 (1) (a) of the Indian Arms Act for carrying a loaded pistol without any valid papers and attempting to board a flight.

How big of a moron do you need to be to carry a firearm on an airplane, anywhere in the world? Especially in a country that has its own terrorism issues.

[slackmaster]

1. Wow, he should get some kind of booby prize for that

How big of a moron do you need to be to carry a firearm on an airplane, anywhere in the world? Especially in a country that has its own terrorism issues.

First class!

:toast:

[Remmah2]

4. In India it's known as a Buddha prize. nt

nt

[baldguy]

2. Someone who thinks his right to carry a gun is granted by god.

[Jackson1999]

10. But has Vishnu weighed in on the topic? Also.....

I am more interested in how he got the gun INTO India

[Turbineguy]

3. India obviously

needs to amend their second amendment.

[JonQ]

5. Your rights as an american don't really apply in other countries

learn the laws of any country *before* you visit.

God only gave Americans the 2nd amendment, not those foreign heathens.

[Statistical]

6. Well from the founding father's perspective....

The right to bear arms pre-exists the Constitution. That doesn't mean other govt don't trample that right. The Jews in Germany circa WWII had a right to life and liberty also however the German govt illegally trampled those rights.

So even the founding fathers would concede that he had the right however he also had to accept he has no legal protection if another country decides to infringe upon that right. The founders didn't limit the RKBA to the United States they simply only had control over our constitution and they placed PROTECTIONS on those rights from abuse by the government.

[JonQ]

7. They were also prepared to die to defend those rights

so presumably a little jail time would be trivial.

[Statistical]

8. Exactly however regardless of the law the right exists.

Violating the rights is simply tyranny and they were willing to die to stop/prevent tyranny.

Only reason I bring it up is antis often act like a right is magical. They say it can't be a right because the govt can take it away. No a govt can't LAWFULLY take it away but govts have massive authority and military power and they often can and do act tyrannical.

The founding fathers saw that and felt the need to make it more difficult (but not impossible) for the govt to infringe on rights. They did that by the Bill of Rights.

[chibajoe]

9. The guy is an idiot

I'm as big a 2nd proponent as anyone, but in this case, stupid should hurt.

[yost69]

11. Another problem with the legal system. Appeal Appeal Appeal

Everyone knows you don't carry a weapon onto a plane. What is there to appeal?



He claimed that he was unaware of Indian firearms law and had previously arrived in Delhi and traveled to Chennai without getting caught.

Right there I would think he messed up. If he wanted to sound innocent he should have stated that He traveled to Chennai and no one informed him that it was illegal.

[Euromutt]

13. How did he even get the gun TO India?

If he managed to bring the thing along with him from Arizona, the TSA's got some 'splainin' to do. In addition, Indian customs fucked up at New Delhi by failing to spot it there, and Indian security fucked up again by letting him get on a flight from New Delhi to Chennai without noticing it.

While this guy is obviously not the brightest bulb on the chandelier, I'm somewhat inclined to think they should let him off just because of the amazing series of governmental fuck-ups that made this incident even possible.

[SteveM]

12. As the Humpty Hump in Digital Underground sez: "Well, let's get stupid."(nt)