Sharp as a Marble - Remember how I said intent cannot be transferred?

Remember how I said intent cannot be transferred?

Gun Myths , Self Defense , Without Guns

Because I sincerely doubt Juan Valdez intended his finest brew to be used as a weapon

When a man tried to rob a Dunkin’ Donuts in Connecticut on Saturday night, an employee acted quickly and stopped him with the closest weapon available -- hot coffee.

Normally coffee makes for nothing more than a good drink. Here, it turned into a weapon based on how an individual used it. If the intent of an object was transferrable, then the robber would have simply sipped the java and been slightly more awake. Worst case scenario, he’d have scalded his tongue.

Instead, the coffee, originally poured to be consumed as a hot beverage, became a weapon and one that worked quite well as it fended off the attack. Ask Caleb, he’ll tell you coffee can also be used to buy a little time while you draw your pistol. Regardless, it is the intent of the person that makes an item a weapon not the item itself.

I sincerely believe there will be no calls for “Piping Hot Coffee Free Zones” or a 3 hour waiting period to buy coffee so you (and the java) have time to cool off. I believe this because everyone knows how stupid that is, but swap out the coffee with ‘gun’ and suddenly people go full retard.

Comments

TinCan Assassin says:

on 3/6/2013 at 10:39 AM

Only the police should have coffee and donuts.

Bubblehead Les says:

on 3/6/2013 at 10:46 AM

I remember back in my Navy Days reading about a story that came out of the Philippines in the late '70s. A couple of Goblins decided to rob a Bank. Back then, most of the Philippine Citizens weren't allowed to have a Gun outside the Home. Even though the Goblins had Guns, most of the Customers got so pissed that they attacked them with anything they could get their hands on, and they were able to not only Stop them, they Killed them before the Cops could get there. The best part was reading about how the Police were having trouble identifying one of the Perps because his Skull and Face were so badly damaged by a Typewriter!

Steven says:

on 3/6/2013 at 2:45 PM

Totally forgotten in this debate on guns, is the legal concept of Mens Rea. Mens rea is Latin for "guilty mind".

It is the INTENT of the criminal that matters most.

A classic law school example is this:

I decide that my neighbor's ability to breathe and live is more than I can bear. I want him dead. So, one night I take my gun (or knife) and I go to his house and sneak in while he is sleeping. My INTENT is to murder him - preferably in his sleep while he can't fight back.

I find him in his bed, and shoot him in the back as he faces away from me - or stab him in a similar manner.

Well, it turns out that he died of a heart attack hours earlier and all I did was mutilate a corpse.

However, using Mens Rea, my guilty mind / criminal intent, I can be charged with attempted murder. In effect all I did was tear up a piece of meat - but ONLY IN MY MIND was the intent to kill a human being. I did not harm a living breathing human being. I caused damage to a cannibal steak, thereby depriving him of dinner.

So - your point is excellent: It is not the object, but the intent behind the object that makes it dangerous and criminally used.

Archer says:

on 3/6/2013 at 5:47 PM

@Steven: The piano wire is my favorite example of the non-transferability of intent. The creator's intent to facilitate (hopefully) beautiful music means very little to the man getting garroted to death with it.

@Robb: Didn't McDonald's reduce the temperature of their coffee after the scald incident? I'd call that a voluntary "Piping Hot Coffee Free Zone".

Alphonse says:

on 3/6/2013 at 6:30 PM

They need to ban "the big heat". For the children.

Gerry says:

on 3/7/2013 at 9:44 AM

This my cofee mug.
There are many like it but this one is mine.

Sennin says:

on 3/7/2013 at 9:59 AM

Can you use the Java without upgrading it first?

Robb Allen says:

on 3/7/2013 at 10:06 AM

Brew once, pour anywhere.

Well, so long as you have the EXACT version of the mug...

Jean says:

on 3/7/2013 at 12:39 PM

Sir, you are incorrect here:
but swap out the coffee with ‘gun’ and suddenly people go full retard.

You are confusing correllation with causation: They WERE full retard LONG BEFORE. The word "gun" merely brings it to the fore.

If there were ever a reason for euthansia...

shovelDriver says:

on 3/7/2013 at 1:09 PM

The Feds' increasing efforts to demonize firearms – and everything else that they deem “unsafe” – amply demonstrates their own insecurities. Didn’t Freud or some other well-regarded fraud have something to say about that? I wonder what the DSM IV says. Ah, probably nothing much. You can’t really expect the mentally deficient to aid in their own diagnosis.

Electronic Person says:

on 3/7/2013 at 1:25 PM

Do you have a permit to buy, tote, and drink coffee? Or the components to make it? Coffee Creamer, for example, is extremely flammable; and can be made into an explosive. For that matter, the foil used to pack cigarettes is also ignitable. It might not be all that long before one becomes mandatory.

It might be "wise" to stock up now.

(Yes, this is sarcasm. But given historical precedents . . .)

Firehand says:

on 3/9/2013 at 6:25 PM

Steve, I don't know if they've forgotten it or are trying to trash it. Especially in a lot of the idiot federal prosecutions we read about.

They try to fall back on 'ignorance of the law is no excuse', but when they've deliberately made the law so convoluted and huge that you CAN'T know what it is, then barring actual intent, ignorance IS an excuse. And they can't stand it.

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