Dad charged for waving a gun

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The Examiner reports on a dad who is a victim of anti-gun hysteria:

A Minnesota man supposedly pointed an AK-47 rifle at his daughter because she received two B’s in school. Kirill Bartashevitch, 51, wanted his daughter to earn straight A’s on her report case, but flipped out when that did not happen.

The two of them started arguing about the report card on January 13, and that was when Bartashevitch aimed his rifle at his 15-year-old daughter.

A social worker at the girl's high school contacted police about the situation on Jan. 17, according to KMSP. “The social worker said the girl had sent a text message to a friend of hers about the incident. The friend's mother had seen the message and told the social worker about it.” ...

“The man allegedly admitted to pointing the gun at this family, but added that he had checked the chamber beforehand to make sure it was not loaded.”

The daughter told police she was fearless because she was aware the gun was not loaded. “The daughter was taken to a shelter, and Bartashevitch was charged with two counts of terroristic threats.”

This is not a terrorist threat, or even a terroristic threat. It was not even an AK-47. A true AK-47 is a Soviet military assault rifle with automatic fire. The ones sold in the USA require one trigger pull per shot.

If the daughter understood that the gun was not loaded, then it was not a threat. The prosecutor explains the law wrong:

Bartashevitch had recently purchased the rifle because he thought that such guns soon will be banned, the complaint said. He admitted to St. Paul police that he had pointed the gun at his wife and daughter but said it wasn't loaded and that he had checked the chamber beforehand.

"Any gun owner in America will tell you that's incredibly irresponsible," said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi. "You just don't point guns at people."

Threatening someone with a gun is a crime of violence regardless of the type of weapon or whether it's loaded, Choi said. The incident took place at the family's house on Englewood Avenue. The girl's concerns came to light four days later at Central High School when a social worker received a report from a parent who was monitoring her son's electronic communications and read a message from the girl.

No, this is incorrect. You can commit a crime with a toy squirt gun, if you use it to rob a bank and convince others that it is a real gun and you are threatening to kill them with it. So yes, you can commit a crime with an unloaded gun. But it was obvious to everyone that the dad was not intending to kill the daughter with the gun. If he were intending to kill her, he had four days to do it before the authorities intervened.

What is being gained by putting the girl in a shelter? I agree that pointing guns is bad practice, but this was an isolated incident in his own home. No one was hurt and there is no reason to think that anyone was in danger. It was a new gun, and the dad may not have even bought any ammo for it yet.

Another report says:

The The Seattle Times reports Bartashevitch's bail was set at $20,000. He is an employee of Minneapolis Public Schools. His bail conditions stipulate he should not contact his wife and daughter.

He faces a maximum prison sentence of five years for each count, and a $10,000 fine.

This is an attempt to bust up the family. He should certainly be allowed to talk to his wife and daughter. This is another example of authorities trying to destroy families.

The argument is, I guess, that the dad might talk to his family about the incident. Well of course he should talk to them about it. It would be wrong not to talk about it. There can be no justification for telling a man he cannot talk to his family. I would say this even if here were convicted of a crime, but here he is innocent until proven guilty and is only accused of a very trivial matter.

Here is another story of a dad getting into trouble with his kid:

A 16-year-old driver, his father and a dog were in a Toyota 4Runner that broke through the wooden railing and drove off the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf on Monday morning, when the teen said the accelerator stuck, according to police Sgt. Jon Bush.

The car was parked on the wharf on the side facing the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk near lifeguard headquarters before it broke through the railing and went into the water.

This was funny. I hope that no one is being charged.