From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
FATHER PLANNED TO GIVE STUN GUNS TO HIS CHILDREN
131835 JUN 00
By Chris Court, PA News
A father who illegally imported high-powered electric stun guns via the
Internet intended giving two to his children, a court heard today.
Four of the guns were capable of delivering 300,000 volts, and three smaller
models had 100,000 volts of power, said Customs and Excise prosecutor Will
Mee.
Gary Chapman, 39, had intended to keep one of the 300,000-volt guns for
himself, give one to his wife Amanda, and to keep two to give to his 12 and
14-year-old children when they were older, said Jim Newbury, defending.
But had Chapman known how dangerous they were he would not have considered
buying them, Mr Newbury told Bodmin magistrates in Cornwall.
He said Chapman, from St Austell, Cornwall, believed the stun guns, ordered
from the United States, would just give a minute electric shock.
"He was very concerned when he was told by the police how dangerous the
weapons were regarded," said Mr Newbury.
Chapman also brought a stun gun and pepper spray through Customs at Gatwick
airport when he and his family returned from a Florida holiday, the court
heard.
He pleaded guilty to two charges of evasion of a prohibition on the
importation of the items, and was released on bail pending sentence next
month.
The stun guns, classed as weapons in this country, arrived in a package at
the international post clearance depot in Coventry.
With them in the package, addressed to Chapman's wife at their home, were
two pairs of handcuffs and a baton, said Mr Mee.
Mr Newbury said the Internet site had described the stun guns as "ideal for
women and those in fear of being overpowered by an attacker".
The web site suggested buyers contact their authorities on the importation
issue, Mr Newbury told the court.
Chapman, he said, became interested in personal security after his wife had
been frightened by a strange man who approached her in the US.
They had been advised on what devices which were available for personal
protection in the US, said Mr Newbury.
Kenneth Pantling
Nock's Grim Truth - In proportion as you give the State power to do things
for you, you give it power to do things to you; and the State invariably
makes as little as it can of the one power and as much as it can of the
other.
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