Also known as: weapons · arm · arms
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An instrument or object used in a manner calculated or likely to cause death or serious bodily injury.
Wilma Wright became enraged during an argument and plunged a kitchen knife into Wallace Webb's chest. The prosecution introduced evidence that the blade struck a vital area. The factfinder could infer from the intentional use of the knife that Wilma acted with malice aforethought.
Willow Walker swung a metal baseball bat at Wanda Weaver's head during a street confrontation. The blow fractured Wanda's skull. Under the Model Penal Code, Willow's purposeful use of the bat as a deadly weapon elevated the charge to aggravated assault.
Willa Whitman kept a loaded handgun in her bedside drawer for protection after repeated break-ins. A local ordinance later banned all handgun possession inside city limits. Whitman challenged the ban as violating her individual right to keep and bear arms.
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Wallace Webb struck Willow West repeatedly with a lead pipe during a robbery. The blows caused fatal head trauma. The factfinder could permissively infer that Wallace intended to kill because he intentionally used an instrument likely to cause death.
Wanda Weaver entered a residence at night carrying a loaded revolver to commit theft. She was apprehended before completing the theft. Because she was armed with a deadly weapon during the course of the burglary, the offense was graded as a felony of the second degree.
Wellesley Media published an editorial criticizing a public official and describing corruption as a dangerous weapon. The official sued for libel. The court applied actual-malice standards to the publication that employed the term weapon metaphorically.
No. The use of a deadly weapon directed at a vital body part merely permits the factfinder to draw an inference of intent to kill. The inference remains permissive and the prosecution must still prove malice aforethought beyond a reasonable doubt.
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A person commits aggravated assault by attempting to cause or purposely or knowingly causing bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon. The offense is graded as a felony of the third degree.
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Burglary becomes a felony of the second degree if the actor is armed with explosives or a deadly weapon during the course of committing the offense. The same grading applies when the burglary occurs in a dwelling at night.
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The Second Amendment protects the individual right to keep and bear arms commonly used for self-defense, but the right is not unlimited. Prohibitions on possession by felons and the mentally ill, and restrictions on certain dangerous weapons, remain valid.
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…points pricked out in terms of the taking of property; the freedom of speech, press, and religion; the right to keep and bear arms; the freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures; and so on. It is a rational continuum which, broadly speaking, includes a freedom from all substantial arbitrary impositions and…