Pages

Friday, October 2, 2015

Are Tomatoes Fruits Or Vegetables?

In Nix  v. Hedden (1893) the Supreme Court ruled that tomatoes were vegetables, not fruits.  Good thing, or who knows how V8 would be marketed.  Somewhat more factually problematic is this decision from the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruling that BB guns are firearms.  From Sept. 28, 2015 Star-Tribune:
A small BB gun found in a felon’s car has been ruled a firearm by the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and its possession means more prison time for him.

Since 1977, the state’s two appellate courts have repeatedly agreed with the Legislature that a BB gun is a firearm when involved in various crimes, such as drive-by shootings.

As the result of a 2005 felony drug conviction, David Lee Haywood wasn’t supposed to have a handgun. The BB gun was found in his glove compartment during a traffic stop in 2013.

He was found guilty of a felony in Ramsey County District Court and received a mandatory minimum of five years in prison.

Now if he had threatened someone with it, there might be some argument for this, but it reminds of when I lived in California and I called our local police department to see if there was a legal problem, with firing a bow and arrow in my back yard.  They informed me that under California law, a bow and arrow is a firearm.  Don't know where they found that definition.

2 comments:

  1. Knowledge is knowing that tomatoes are fruits. Wisdom is not putting them in fruit salad.

    I don't even want to know why there is a court case involved.

    ReplyDelete
  2. And I remember seeing, in the mid seventies, a man on Pearl St. In Santa Monica who was quietly standing in his driveway shooting arrowa with a recurve bow into his garage.

    ReplyDelete