Commonwealth v. Thomson

What it’s about

• Firearms
• Constitutional Law, Right to bear arms, Standing to question constitutionality
• Evidence, Firearm, Age, Expert opinion
• Practice, Criminal, Standing
• License

A police officer stopped a car after it went through a red light. The defendant was seated in the front passenger seat; a lit marijuana "blunt" was in the center console; and a plastic bag containing a pound of marijuana was on the back seat. The officer asked for identification from all three occupants of the car, none of whom was wearing a seat belt. The officer also asked whether anyone in the car had a weapon. The defendant (unlike his companions) did not answer, and the officer asked him to get out of the car. The defendant complied, and then pushed the officer and ran away. Along his flight, he discarded a loaded nine millimeter semiautomatic handgun.

The opening of the court’s opinion.