14 Va. App. 774 - Rogers v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

14 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[A] weapon is not excluded from the operation of the statute simply because it is missing a part at the time it is seized. In Rogers , we had occasion to consider whether a weapon, which had no firing pin when discovered and, thus, “could not be fired as found,” was nonetheless a “sawed off shotgun” as that term is defined in the “Sawed-Off” Shotgun Act (Code §§ 18.2-299 — 18.2-307). The appellant in Rogers asserted that his conviction for possession of a sawed-off shotgun should be reversed because the absence of a firing pin made the weapon inoperable. In holding that “the absence of a firing pin in such a weapon does not exempt it from prohibition under the Act,” we recognized that the weapon would have become completely operable “after a moment’s delay to insert a firing pin.” We stated that holding otherwise ‘“would permit criminals to carry [weapons] in the first stage of disassembly, ready to be reassembled on a moment’s notice.’ Alternatively, a criminal carrying [such a weapon] would be allowed to rendezvous with a confederate carrying the firing pin, thereby avoiding the application of the Act.” We find the reasoning in Rogers persuasive. A clip, like a firing pin, can be inserted “on a moment’s notice” so as to make the weapon operable. To hold that a weapon merely missing a clip falls outside the scope of the statute would be tantamount to holding that criminals may carry weapons while possessing controlled substances, so long as the weapon is missing one part tha”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 33 Va. App. 796 - Williams v. Commonwealth

2. ““ ‘Sawed-off shotgun” applies to any weapon, loaded or unloaded, originally designed as a shoulder weapon, utilizing a self-contained cartridge from which a number of ball shot pellets or projectiles may be fired simultaneously from a smooth or rifled bore by a single function of the firing device and which has a barrel length of less than eighteen inches for smooth bore weapons and sixteen inches for rifled weapons. Weapons of less than .225 caliber shall not be included.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 28 Va. App. 340 - Dillard v. Commonwealth

3. “[t]he weapon had no firing pin when discovered, and therefore could not be fired as found. Additionally, no firing pin was recovered from appellant. However, the weapon could be made to fire by inserting a small nail or pin. No specific expertise would be required to insert such a pin.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 33 Va. App. 796 - Williams v. Commonwealth