Appeals Court
(AP) — A panel of the Kansas Court of Appeals has ruled that an air rifle is not a firearm as defined by the state’s criminal laws.
The court ruled Friday in the 2011 case of a man accused of pointing an air rifle at two people and threatening to shoot them.
Lawrence resident Timothy Craddick was convicted of two counts of attempted aggravated assault.
A Douglas County judge found that Craddick had committed the crime with a firearm, which meant a presumptive prison term. The judge ordered him to serve 11 months.
But the appeals court ruled Craddick’s pellet rifle was not a firearm under Kansas law because it shoots bullets by air or gas instead of an explosion or combustion. Craddick will be resentenced.
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