Pennsylvania court: Making gun-like hand gesture is a crime

Published August 29. 2019 11:42AM

MANOR, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania man convicted of disorderly conduct for making a shooting gesture with his hand has lost his bid to have it overturned.

A state appellate court made the ruling Tuesday on the appeal brought by Stephen Kirchner.
The Manor man made the gesture while walking past a neighbor's home in June 2018. The man allegedly made an obscene gesture toward Kirchner, who responded with his gesture.
A witness called 911 to report the incident. The neighbor told authorities he felt "extremely threatened."
In his appeal, Kirchner argued that his gesture didn't create a hazardous or physically offensive condition. He also argued that he didn't intend to cause a public inconvenience because he made the gesture to a specific individual.
Kirchner's attorney said they won't appeal the matter further.

Comments
What do you think this man was trying to communicate with the gun gesture? Don't you think its pretty clear that a finger gun gesture is a threat in that context?
Did you read? Do you not understand that this was heard in court?

This thoroughly investigated and litigated event(which an eyewitness called 911 when they saw the gesture) you claim you can’t make a judgement on but “in your heart” you think Obama is Kenyan despite proof to the contrary.
Ease up Joe. You dig around in garbage for every little tidbit to lambast Meyers or Trump, as you willfully ignore tremendous mountains of information right in front of you. You are argumentative. Obviously, these things should be taken on a case by case basis. If a third party that was unbiased thought the gesture was threatening, that weighs judgement a bit. There have been cases of school children drawing guns or chewing a pop-tart to look like a gun (as Meyers indicated) getting expelled from school. Cooler heads have to prevail. There is a definite bias against guns that should be looked into in each case. Obama being a boy from Kenya has nothing to do with this, other to expose your extreme bias. Frequently, Joe, you come across as half baked. On the other hand, legitimate threats have to be taken seriously.
Solid majority of Americans understand that there is increased gun violence in our country. The above article touches on that reality and the changes that need to be made. Many elected officials are allied with the gun lobby so that should tell you what needs to be changed.
Vote them out of office.

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