Firearms Lawyer Blog

Our West Palm Beach firearms crimes defense attorneys were saddened by the news that a two-year-old girl was injured by an unattended gun. The Tampa Tribune reported March 26 that Ralph Ronzino, 22, is charged with child neglect by culpable negligence for leaving his handgun within reach of his girlfriend’s daughter. Mckenzie Smith, 2, sustained a gunshot wound to her abdomen and was hospitalized in critical but stable condition as of March 26. Ronzino also faces charges related to a search of the home, which turned up several other firearms “easily accessible to the child” as well as 202 grams of marijuana. Neither Ronzino nor Mckenzie’s mother, 22-year-old Jessica Smith, have extensive criminal histories.

The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office said Ronzino said he took out the .380-caliber handgun because he heard a shot fired in the night. After finding nothing unusual outside, he put the gun on the nightstand and went back to sleep. Around 10:35 a.m. on March 26, Mckenzie apparently found the gun and shot herself in the abdomen. Ronzino was out shopping, but Smith was home. After the incident, a police search turned up two other handguns and an AK-47, all of which were confiscated along with the marijuana. Ronzino faces charges of child neglect by culpable negligence, a second-degree felony carrying up to 15 years in prison. He is separately charged with possession of marijuana with the intent to sell. Bail was set at $55,000, and Ronzino has been ordered to stay away from Mckenzie and not to possess any other firearms.

As responsible gun owners and Miami gun crimes defense lawyers, we’d like to remind Floridians that two different statutes specifically require gun owners to keep loaded weapons out of the reach of minors under 16. If a minor gets hold of such a weapon and possesses or exhibits it publicly, the responsible person can be charged with a misdemeanor. If the minor uses the weapon to inflict injury or death on anyone, including himself or herself, the responsible person can be charged with a third-degree felony for culpable negligence. Interestingly, Ronzino is charged with a more serious second-degree felony under a Florida child neglect statute that doesn’t mention firearms. If we were representing Ronzino, we’d be interested to know why he is being charged with the more serious crime of child neglect, given that the culpable negligence statute seems to describe the situation better.

Continue reading " Tampa Man Charged With Negligence in Toddler’s Injury From Unattended Gun " »

As Fort Lauderdale firearms criminal defense attorneys, we were disturbed to read last year that some couples looking to adopt a child in Florida had been asked whether they had guns in their homes. So we were pleased to see that the Legislature quickly put an end to the issue last week by approving a bill banning such questions. The Palm Beach Post reported March 19 that the measure passed the Florida House unanimously and got all but two votes in the Florida Senate. The measure’s author said it bars adoption agencies for making gun ownership a condition of adopting or from requiring prospective parents to answer questions about it. All applicants to adopt will also receive a copy of state laws concerning safe storage of firearms.

The NRA-backed bill grew out of a 2009 controversy involving a private adoption agency contracted to the Florida Department of Children and Families. That agency used a form that included a question about the couple’s gun ownership. At least one couple went to a state legislator to complain that the question violated their Second Amendment rights. More specifically, the question raised concerns in some circles that the question could be used to create a “gun registry,” which is forbidden by Florida law. The agency stopped using the form after DCF explained this concern, and state officials said they didn’t know of anyone being denied a chance to adopt because of gun ownership. Nonetheless, the bill’s Senate sponsor said it may prevent couples from adopting overseas rather than submitting to Florida’s adoption questions.

We applaud any measure that helps get more children into loving homes. And as Miami gun crimes defense attorneys, we particularly applaud this bill for erasing any lingering prejudice against gun owners. Questions to prospective parents about their firearms ownership imply that the asker thinks owning a gun raises concerns about their fitness as parents. In fact, guns are not the problem -- responsibility around guns is the problem. Millions of Americans have grown up safely, and are still growing up safely, in homes with guns. Children are only in great danger in the homes of people who use or store guns irresponsibly. Furthermore, we’re pleased to see that this bill heads off any hint of a “gun registry,” something that could lead to government theft of law-abiding citizens’ guns and eventually, tyranny.

Continue reading " Legislature Passes Measure Banning Questions About Guns for Adoptive Parents " »

The Miami-Dade DUI defense attorneys at Balliro are proud to announce that we are a sponsor of the annual Swamp Stomp Miami. Held on Virginia Key, the concert is an eclectic collection of some of South Florida's finest bands. Just like with our previous concert sponsorship, we believe it's important for concert-goers to have a great time -- but avoid drinking and driving.

The federal Armed Career Criminal Act substantially increases the sentence for a gun crime under certain circumstances. If the accused has been convicted of three or more violent felonies, prosecutors can use the ACCA to require a mandatory sentence of 15 years in prison for any federal firearms crime -- even nonviolent ones. Our Fort Lauderdale firearms criminal defense attorneys have always had philosophical problems with mandatory minimum sentencing, particularly for nonviolent crimes like sales and possession. This month, the Florida Times-Union reported March 15, the U.S. Supreme Court made a ruling in a Florida case suggesting that some justices agreed.

Johnson v. United States started when Curtis Darnell Johnson was accused of possession of ammunition by a convicted felon. He pleaded guilty, which would normally get him a sentence of two or three years in prison, although ten years is the maximum. However, prosecutors in that case used his prior felony convictions -- for burglary, cocaine possession and battery -- to invoke the ACCA, increasing his minimum sentence substantially. One of those convictions was a Florida state conviction for simple battery, which was automatically charged as a felony because he had a previous battery conviction. Johnson’s public defender, Lisa Call, argued that the battery conviction doesn’t meet the requirements of the ACCA because battery is not necessarily a violent crime in Florida. A 7-2 majority of the justices agreed.

As Miami-Dade gun crimes defense lawyers, we are very pleased to see the ACCA clarified. In Florida, you can be convicted of simple battery for any unwanted touching. The Florida Supreme Court has ruled that this can include a tap on the shoulder. That means felony battery could include a lot of behaviors that wouldn’t normally be considered violent. In most cases, judges can take circumstances like this into account, but not under mandatory minimum sentence laws like the ACCA, because mandatory minimums leave judges almost no flexibility. This ruling doesn’t change that, unfortunately, but it does help reduce the chances of an unfair outcome by requiring that the “violent felony convictions” that trigger the law actually be violent. As the article notes, this will force prosecutors and defense attorneys to take a careful look at prior convictions before agreeing that the ACCA applies.

Continue reading " U.S. Supreme Court Clarifies Firearms Sentencing Law in Jacksonville Man’s Case " »

A case caught the eyes of our Fort Lauderdale firearms criminal defense attorneys this week because it had an unusual beginning. The Treasure Coast Palm reported March 2 that James Buhs, 46, was searched and arrested last summer for selling illegal fireworks to an undercover officer. The search led to one of the largest fireworks raids in Martin County history, with officers confiscating 20,000 pounds of fireworks from the home and garage. More importantly for Buhs, the search turned up a firearm and 28 grams or more of morphine and the prescription anti-anxiety drug alprazolam. Buhs is a former felon who may not legally possess a firearm. Those discoveries formed the basis of the most serious drug and weapons possession charges.

Records show that Buhs was using fireworks for public displays, for which he had a permit and insurance. However, he had also been accused of selling some fireworks illegally, a second-degree misdemeanor. The state has the right to seize any illegal fireworks, which may have been the reason for the search warrant. However, when law enforcement officers arrived at the home, they found the morphine, the alprazolam and “several weapons.” The article said the alprazolam charge was dropped, and that Buhs was sentenced to time served for the misdemeanor fireworks charge. However, prosecutors charged him with trafficking in morphine and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and he pleaded no contest to both charges. He is serving a 25-year sentence for the morphine concurrently with a 15-year sentence for the weapons.

As Miami gun crime defense lawyers, we are most interested in the firearm possession charge. Once you have any felony on your record in Florida, you are legally barred from possessing a firearm for the rest of your life. That’s true even if the original crime was not a gun crime and even if the original crime was not violent. As you can see from this case, the penalties are extremely steep -- possession of a firearm by a felon is a second-degree felony itself, carrying up to 15 years in prison. People with felony convictions in their past can petition Florida’s government to restore their civil rights, which include the right to bear arms as well as the right to vote and have certain jobs. We strongly recommend that former felons who want to own firearms for law-abiding purposes petition to restore their civil rights, so they don’t face this steep sentence for engaging in otherwise legal, and constitutionally protected, behavior.

Continue reading " Stuart Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Morphine and Firearm Possession " »

Our Miami gun crimes defense attorneys are anticipating an important ruling from the United States Supreme Court this session. As the Christian Science Monitor reported March 1, the justices will hear oral arguments March 2 in a case that could change gun control across the United States. In McDonald v. Chicago, Otis McDonald, a man in his seventies from the South Side of Chicago, is challenging that city’s ban on owning handguns. He says he’d like a gun to protect himself and his wife from gang members. In essence, he and his attorneys are asking the Supreme Court to decide whether the Second Amendment right to bear arms applies to state and local gun-control laws. The justices are expected to say that it does.

In some ways, the case is repeat of D.C. v. Heller, the June 2008 ruling that struck down a similar ban in Washington, D.C. In that case, the court said the Second Amendment gives Americans the right to own firearms and use them legally, even if they are not part of a government “militia.” However, the justices stopped short of invalidating all gun controls, such as restrictions on carrying firearms into schools. That ruling applied only to federal land, which includes the capital but no other U.S. cities. That meant McDonald and others like him had to file their own cases to determine whether the court’s interpretation of the Second Amendment in Heller applies to state and local laws as well. Other state laws that might come under fire include bans on carrying a loaded weapon in public and possession bans for people convicted of domestic violence.

In the past, the court has applied parts of the Bill of Rights to states by using the Fourteenth Amendment’s prohibition that “no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law.” It is expected to do that in this case. However, the Chicago plaintiffs and some conservative legal observers prefer that the court use another part of the Fourteenth Amendment, which forbids states from making laws “which abridge the privileges or immunities” of citizens. To do that, it has to overturn three rulings from the 1870s and 1880s that undercut the privileges and immunities clause and specifically said the Second Amendment applies only to the federal government.

Our West Palm Beach firearms criminal defense lawyers will not presume to tell the court which argument is best. However, we hope that the court meets public expectations by expanding its ruling in Heller to Chicago and everywhere else in the United States. A full ban on handguns is against the plain language of the Second Amendment. The court has expanded many other parts of the Bill of Rights to the states, and this right is no different except that it’s less popular. And, contrary to what the defendants claim, a ruling for McDonald wouldn’t necessarily allow just anyone to get their hands on a dangerous weapon. The majority opinion in Heller specifically said states are free to place certain restrictions on gun ownership.

Continue reading " Supreme Court to Decide Whether Second Amendment Applies to States " »