"loaded" means loaded

[Stand_watie]

http://www.volokh.com/

http://www.courts.state.nh.us/supreme/opinions/2013/2013057dor.pdf

Seems like good news to me...

"Furthermore, we reject the State’s reading of RSA 159:4 because it could render the statute unconstitutionally vague. A criminal statute is void for vagueness when it forbids or requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that men of ordinary intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application. Under the State’s reading, a person of ordinary intelligence would have to guess at how “near” a pistol or revolver must be to a loaded magazine or clip to constitute a violation of RSA 159:4. In contrast, interpreting a “loaded pistol or revolver” as a pistol or revolver containing a cartridge in any position from which it can be fired eliminates the uncertainty: a pistol or revolver either contains a cartridge in such a position or it does not...."

[Ben]

Definitely good news. Just a matter of getting law enforcement to understand it. We go through cases like this in CA all the time. Perfectly legal to have an unloaded pistol with a loaded magazine next to it in the same locked container in your car. Yet we still constantly have cases of LE confiscation of firearms stored in that manner. Sure, you can get your gun back, after spending a bunch of time and money.

It got so bad recently in a part of Northern CA where a Forest Service ranger was doing it, even after time and again having his cases dismissed, that the local Sheriff there stepped in and pulled all Federal law enforcement reciprocity of state and local laws in his county.

[AmbulanceDriver]

A cursory read on that decision lends me to think that unless there's a round in the chamber, an automatic wouldn't be considered loaded even with a full magazine in the gun.

Interesting.

[Hawkmoon]

A cursory read on that decision lends me to think that unless there's a round in the chamber, an automatic wouldn't be considered loaded even with a full magazine in the gun.

Nope.

We conclude the legislature intended the second sentence of RSA 159:4
to clarify that “loaded” should be defined according to the broader of the two
accepted meanings above. Therefore, a “loaded pistol or revolver” means not
only a pistol or revolver that contains a cartridge in the chamber, but also a
pistol or revolver containing a cylinder, magazine, or clip with a cartridge that
can be discharged through the normal operation of the firearm. This reading is
consistent with the common and approved usage of “loaded.” We aim to
preserve the common and approved usage of a word “unless from the statute it
appears a different meaning was intended.” Phaneuf Funeral Home v. Little
Giant Pump Co., 163 N.H. 727, 731 (2012).

[Stand_watie]

Nope.

BUT...A semi-auto loaded into a specialty spring loaded holster with a magazine positioned below the well, with the action back, that with one button pushed would spring the magazine into the well and release the slide chambering a round...would be a good idea wouldn't it if you could only legally carry unloaded?