Commentary on the Sentence of the Appeal Court – Juni 14, 2018, ref. No. II AKa 111/18

Abstract

The article is a critical comment to the judgment of the Łódź Court of Appeal of 14 June 2018, II AKa 111/18. The authors, noticing the complex issues of firearms both under criminal law and on the level of criminal doctrine, made an attempt to specify the premises for the qualification of firearms and firing devices such as the Zoraki revolver. Undoubtedly, these revolvers meet part of the criteria of the definition of firearms from art. 7 u.b.a., because they are a portable barrel weapon, which launches projectiles and was designed to shoot missiles, but taking as a starting point the interpretation of this article, it is still necessary to determine whether the substance used in the firing mechanism is a “propellant material”, which the court did not do. The authors specify this term by excluding the use of the colloquial understanding of this wording and by referring to the specialist language specified in the defense standard, which contains definitions of explosives. The comment also touches the issue of the “danger” premise of firearms and interpretation problems based on the content and system interpretation of art. 7 item 1 of u.b.a., art. 263 and art. 280 § 2 of the Penal Code. The authors argument, that the current wording of art. 7 item 1 u.b.a. does not allow independent, full reconstruction of all significant features for criminal liability. This comment also expresses de lege ferenda postulates regarding the change in the definition of art. 7 item 1 u.b.a. and introducing the energy criteria for firearms and specifying the premise of “propellant material” by stating that it is explosive or propellant or initiating material, which would allow for a precise assessment as to the legal qualification of penalized behavior.