The Ciaotou District Court has sentenced a farmer to one year and four months in prison and fined him NT$30,000 (US$1,043) for modifying an airsoft gun to make it more dangerous.
The ruling can be appealed.
Police officers from the Cishan Precinct found the gun during a search at the farmer’s residence over his suspected involvement in a drug-dealing case, they said.
Photo: Su Fu-nan, Taipei Times
The farmer, surnamed Tseng (曾), told police that he had bought the weapon for NT$6,500 at an airsoft gun shop in Kaohsiung in June 2010 to use it to chase away monkeys that stole his crops.
Following an inspection, police concluded that Tseng’s modifications to the gun had made it more dangerous than a normal airsoft gun, but less lethal than a firearm.
Tseng told the court that he had modified the gun, because if he had not done so, it would not have been effective in chasing away monkeys.
The court ruled that Tseng’s purchase of the gun and his modifications to increase the velocity of pellets contravened the Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act (槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例).
Article 8 of the act states: “Any person who manufactures, sells, or transports standard or non-standard pen guns, gas guns, tranquilizer guns, hunting guns, air guns, or any other firing devices that can shoot metal object or bullets with lethal force listed in Subparagraph 1, Paragraph 1, Article 4 without approval shall be sentenced to life imprisonment, or imprisonment of no less than five years as well as a fine of up to NT$10 million.”
However, the defendant demonstrated contrition and was willing to work with the authorities, and there was no evidence proving that Tseng’s possession of the gun made him a threat to society, the court said.
The collegiate bench ruled that Tseng’s infraction was minor and handed down a lighter punishment.
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