I read something earlier today and didn't really understand it.

Under Virginia law, it’s a misdemeanor if an adult leaves a loaded, unsecured firearm in such a way it could endanger a child under the age of 14. The statute also says it is unlawful for a person to unknowingly allow a child under the age of 12 to use a firearm.

I thought I'd have to have knowledge of to allow. Is this just legal speak for being ignorant of an event or occurrence?

Instead of knowingly allow, as in take your 13 year old target practicing.

It is rather oddly worded, but still straightforward. It means don't leave your gun(s) just lying around willy-nilly.

By not being any where near smart enough to make decisions.

By going to Las Vegas and not having a clue , iknowingly allowed a months wages to magically disappear in to the pockets of casino owners.

It happens all day long every day .

Doesn't shed a good light on 90% of the Vegas visitors does it

Allow = To let happen

That could happen knowingly or unknowingly.

Recklessly or negligently might be a more accurate choice of words.

quote:

Originally posted by mark60:
Under Virginia law, it’s a misdemeanor...

Let me guess... This law came up regarding the 6 y/o in Newport News, VA who brought his mother's handgun to school and shot his teacher w/ it.

Seems to me that is comes under the heading of unanswerable questions, like the one asked by the baggage clerk at your airport check-in - 'is there anything in this bag that you don't know about?'

quote:

Originally posted by iron chef:

quote:

Originally posted by mark60:
Under Virginia law, it’s a misdemeanor...

Let me guess... This law came up regarding the 6 y/o in Newport News, VA who brought his mother's handgun to school and shot his teacher w/ it.

That is what brought it up.

It's just unusual wording to me. Most people would say that to "allow" is to give permission or "let". In this context "allow" is a failure to prevent and that would allow something to happen.

It’s a correct phrase, we get lulled into the common usage of words these days, I think the less we read as a society the harder it is to recognize different meanings.

For example, in the dictionary the second use for Allow is: “to fail to restrain or prevent“. Fits about perfectly.

quote:

How do you unknowingly allow something?

The grammar/logic is murky but my guess is it's an attempt to remove the possibility of trying to get off a violation with the "I didn't know" defense.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Recklessly or negligently might be a more accurate choice of words.

Those two words have different meanings in the law. They are not synonyms.

quote:

Originally posted by chongosuerte:
It’s a correct phrase, we get lulled into the common usage of words these days, I think the less we read as a society the harder it is to recognize different meanings.

For example, in the dictionary the second use for Allow is: “to fail to restrain or prevent“. Fits about perfectly.

Right. If you leave the gate in your backyard open, and your dog escapes, you didn't allow your dog to run away in the sense that you gave it permission, but you did allow it in the sense that you presented conditions in which your dog running out was likely to happen.

If you park your convertible outside w/ its top down, and it gets rained on, your insurance company might not cover the damage based on it having been easily preventable if you had put the top up. By leaving the top down, you allowed it to happen.

There certainly are a lot gray areas. If you left your home's front door open, and someone goes in and steals something, that's still trespassing & theft despite ppl arguing that you allowed the theft to happen. No, you did not give a thief permission to take your stuff, although ppl will argue that a lack of basic security is the victim's fault for presenting conditions conducive for theft to happen.

For a legal statute like the one referenced, I would expect a better word choice than 'allow'.