He’s finally arrested.
Minneapolis police are now facing heavy criticism for not arresting Sawchak before the shooting even though he had multiple complaints.
Members of the Minneapolis City Council, including Mayor Jacob Frey, pointed blame at the Minneapolis police department for not acting on any of the prior complaints against Sawchak and failing to arrest him immediately after the shooting. https://newsone.com/5658819/white-man-shoots-black-neighbor-minneapolis/
Call me crazy, but if you point a gun at a neighbor for any reason other than being attacked, you probably shouldn’t be allowed to have guns.
Brandishing is a crime. The issue here is it isn’t being enforced.
It’s not a crime at all in my state.
Wait for real? I could just point my gun at anyone i want and there is no law that’s being broken?! What state is that? That’s fucking crazy.
Pennsylvania. It’s an open-carry state. There is no law that says anything about brandishing.
That said, if you point a gun at someone, you are responsible for whatever happens next, including bullets flying in your direction.
(I’m not a lawyer so there might actually be a law about brandishing. I’ve just never pointed a gun at anyone so just don’t come here waving your gat around all willy nilly.)
Generally speaking, even if your state doesn’t have brandishing laws, pointing a firearm at someone is still considered assault. Assault is the unlawful attempt or threat to cause harm to another person.
There’s no specific law for brandishing a firearm because it’s charged under assault, deadly conduct, terroristic threat, menacing, and/or disorderly conduct. Often more than one charge.
I assure you, brandishing in the sense it’s used in other state law is very much illegal in Pennsylvania, and is arguably punished more severely than many states that have specific laws on the books – partially because it doesn’t have a specific law, you’re subject to the caprice of the person that brings suit and the judge. If you look up cases of this being tried in Pennsylvania, you’ll find that it’s robustly prosecuted.