Possession Of Nunchucks
It is illegal to possess nunchucks in California under most circumstances because of the dangerous nature of these weapons.
There are all sorts of different weapons that people have possessed and utilized against other people in order to inflict great bodily injury, deadly force, and serious injury – all the various definitions that are needed in order to be guilty of other crimes.
The bottom line, though, is that the possession of nunchucks in order to defend oneself in order to take an offensive position against another is illegal in Los Angeles, California.
There are some circumstances where nunchucks can be possessed – like, for example, when it comes to some sort of a tournament or some sort of possession because they are
trophies or antiques – those would be categories that a person could use in order to possess nunchucks possibly legally.
But before you try to do that, you would obviously want to sit down with a seasoned criminal defense attorney who's handled possession of nunchucks cases before, knows the ins and outs of them, can cite the Penal Code section to you, and can show you exactly what you can and can't do.
Defenses To Possession Of Nunchucks – PC 22010
The bottom line is that you can't possess them unless you've got them for some sort of martial arts tournament or something lawful, and you're not trying to protect yourself or offensively use them potentially.
That would be a scenario where you could certainly defend yourself. If someone was trying to use deadly force against you, and you used nunchucks to protect yourself, it was reasonable under the circumstances. For example, maybe the person was trying to stab you; you could certainly use nunchucks to defend yourself under that circumstance.
However, you would still be guilty and violate Penal Code Section 22010 because you would be possessing nunchucks. The use of them under those circumstances, you couldn't get for assault with a deadly weapon because you would be defending yourself.
So, the bottom line is it's just not good. Even though we see all these great Bruce Lee movies and different scenarios where people are whipping nunchucks around in Los Angeles County and California and other states across the country – you cannot possess nunchucks, or you would put yourself in a position where you will be arrested, charged with a crime and facing potential jail time and other punishments.
Reviewing Best Case Strategy
So, what I do if I have a client who is charged with possession of nunchucks and violating that Penal Code Section is I have them come into the office. We sit down and go over everything.
We talk about it. Obviously, I'm going to want them to explain to me why they possess the nunchucks so that we can get down to the nitty-gritty about whether or not they're guilty of the crime and what we might do to defend you.
If we can't defend you, then we need to get a mitigation package together to show the prosecutors that you're not a bad person. You are not possessing these nunchucks so that you can inflict deadly force against other people. We would also show you're not a danger to the community, and obviously, if you have a job, a family, no prior criminal record.
We can put together character letters and other things that show that you're a good person. We can turn the tide of this type of crime and put you in a much stronger position to avoid a horrible criminal record and some of the bad penalties that come along with possession of nunchucks charge.
A lot of times, I see people not only being charged with possession of nunchucks but they're also being charged with other more serious crimes. For example, if you hit somebody with the nunchucks and you seriously hurt them, you could be charged with inflicting great bodily injury against another person.
For example, if you cause a broken bone or other issues with the person, you don't want to be charged with a GBI allegation because that's a strike. It comes with a 3-year prison enhancement.
You can also be charged with assault with a deadly weapon. There are all sorts of charges that you can get hit with just for the simple possession of nunchucks because you end up having to use the nunchucks.
So, even though we see all these things on TV and they look really cool, and everything – in real life and the real world, the police, prosecutors, and judges take this possession of nunchuck cases very seriously. You could be looking at jail time and, obviously, a criminal record that you don't want to have.
