{"id":10870,"date":"2023-10-30T13:57:58","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T13:57:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/30\/i-reached-for-gum-and-felt-my-gun-hong-kong-court-acquits-us-politician-over-airport-firearms-charge\/"},"modified":"2023-10-30T13:57:58","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T13:57:58","slug":"i-reached-for-gum-and-felt-my-gun-hong-kong-court-acquits-us-politician-over-airport-firearms-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/30\/i-reached-for-gum-and-felt-my-gun-hong-kong-court-acquits-us-politician-over-airport-firearms-charge\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I reached for gum and felt my gun\u2019: Hong Kong court acquits US politician over airport firearms charge"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>A Hong Kong court has dropped charges against an American politician who turned himself in to customs authorities after bringing a gun into the city\u2019s airport in what he called \u201can honest mistake.\u201d <\/p>\n

Washington State Senator Jeff Wilson appeared at the West Kowloon Magistrates\u2019 Court on Monday and was acquitted of \u201cpossession of arms without a license.\u201d <\/p>\n

Instead he was given a 24-month \u201cbind-over\u201d where the charge was withdrawn and the defendant agreed to a good behavior order. Wilson\u2019s firearm was also confiscated. <\/p>\n

Both prosecution and defense lawyers argued that this was a special case, citing Wilson\u2019s self-declaration at the Hong Kong customs and his admission to possessing a firearm by mistake during questioning. <\/p>\n

The Republican state senator, whose full name is Stephen Jeffrey Wilson, also has a clear record in the city and had an open manner throughout the investigation, the court heard. <\/p>\n

\u201cBased on the limited evidence available, I believe the defendant is innocent,\u201d said magistrate Don So. <\/p>\n

So added that that since Wilson was a trade delegate and traveled frequently in the region, he believed the state senator \u201cshould have known Chinese and Hong Kong laws are very strict.\u201d <\/p>\n

The conditions for the \u201cbind-over\u201d order include abstaining from possessing firearms and ammunition for 24 months. Repeated offenses would lead to a HK$2,000 (about $250) fine and further prosecution. <\/p>\n

After the court\u2019s decision, Wilson\u2019s office issued a statement saying the state senator had \u201cinadvertently\u201d brought the unloaded revolver on an international flight and acknowledged responsibility. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe mistake, after all, was fully mine. I am relieved we were able to resolve this matter efficiently, and I want to apologize for the concern I created,\u201d Wilson said. <\/p>\n

He also gave more details on how he came to discover he had an unloaded gun onboard a plane, which was apparently not spotted by airport security checks in the United States. <\/p>\n

\u201cI packed quickly and failed to check the contents of my briefcase. Over the Pacific, I reached into my briefcase for gum and felt my gun instead. My heart sank. I understood immediately what had happened, and that my only option was to report to the proper authorities, cooperate fully, and respect the laws of the land where my plane was about to touch down,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Wilson\u2019s passport was returned to him and he will resume travels with his wife in Southeast Asia, the statement added. <\/p>\n

Wilson also said the authorities in Hong Kong had \u201cconducted themselves in a professional manner.\u201d <\/p>\n

The court heard that on October 21, Wilson arrived in the Chinese territory with his wife after catching a connecting flight in San Francisco from Portland. <\/p>\n

He approached the customs channel at the Hong Kong International Airport less than 30 minutes after he landed, and \u201con his own initiative\u201d informed officers that there was a gun in his bag. Wilson was arrested as he could not provide any valid license to carry arms in Hong Kong. <\/p>\n

The senator\u00a0said the ordeal was an \u201chonest mistake\u201d and he \u201chopes to resume his itinerary when the matter is resolved,\u201d according to a statement posted by his office on October 23. <\/p>\n

Wilson also noted\u00a0in his statement\u00a0that his gun was registered in Washington state and that he holds a concealed firearms license. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we all can learn from what happened here,\u201d Wilson said Monday. \u201cFirst, of course, to always check your carry-on baggage before you go through airport security. But more important, when you make a mistake like this one, the right thing to do is to show respect and accept responsibility.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Hong Kong court has dropped charges against an American politician who turned himself in to customs authorities after bringing a gun into the city\u2019s airport in what he called \u201can honest mistake.\u201d Washington State Senator Jeff Wilson appeared at the West Kowloon Magistrates\u2019 Court on Monday and was acquitted of \u201cpossession of arms without <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":10871,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10870","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}