Legal Definition of Mass Destruction

Suppose you or a family are accused of violating a weapons of mass destruction law? In this case, you should remain silent and contact our criminal defense office to discuss the case and legal options for the future. Chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons that can be substantially destroyed or cause mass casualties exclude means of transport or supply of the weapon if these means are a separable and divisible part of the weapon. Also called weapons of mass destruction. [38] It is a very extensive control that would eliminate the rivalry between nations in this field, that would prevent the clandestine arming of one nation against another, that would allow some time before a nuclear attack and thus presumably before any attack with weapons of mass destruction, and that would contribute greatly to the elimination of nuclear energy, at least as a source of conflict between powers. [10] For general purposes of national defense,[46] the United States Code[47] defined a weapon of mass destruction as follows: Other documents extend the definition of weapons of mass destruction to radiological or conventional weapons. The U.S. military refers to weapons of mass destruction as: The Washington Post reported on June 30. March 2006: “The jury today asked the judge in the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui to define the term `weapons of mass destruction` and was told that it included aircraft used as missiles.” Moussaoui was charged and tried for, among other things, conspiracy to destroy aircraft and use weapons of mass destruction. [60] We use the term “possession” here as a broad term that describes many WMD-related activities that are considered criminal. In particular, CP 11418(a) states that every person who “possesses, develops, manufactures, produces, transfers, acquires or keeps” a weapon of mass destruction commits a crime. Boston Marathon survivor suicide bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was charged in June 2013 with the federal offense of “using a weapon of mass destruction” after he and his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev allegedly planted shrapnel bombs from pressure cooker shells with ball bearings and nails near the Boston Marathon finish line. He was convicted in April 2015.

The attack killed three people and injured at least 264. [61] CP 11418 states: “Every person who possesses, develops, manufactures, produces, transfers, acquires or retains a weapon of mass destruction without lawful authorization shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of 4, 8 or 12 years.” EXAMPLE 1: Cedric participates in the transport of unauthorized biological warfare agents on the black market. Although he has never thought of using weapons of mass destruction himself, he is guilty of weapons of mass destruction because he sells illegal substances that could be used as weapons of mass destruction. The term “weapons of mass destruction” continues to be used periodically, primarily in the context of nuclear arms control; Ronald Reagan used it at the Reykjavík Summit in 1986 with reference to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. [17] Reagan`s successor, George H. W. Bush, used the term in a speech to the United Nations in 1989, primarily in reference to chemical weapons. [18] After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which ended World War II, and during the Cold War, the term referred more to unconventional weapons.

The application of the term to specifically nuclear and radiological weapons is attributed by William Safire to the Russian expression “Оружие массового поражения” – oruzhiye massovogo porazheniya (weapon of mass destruction). [6] Any violation of California`s weapons of mass destruction law is a felony, punishable by up to 12 years in prison and mass fines if convicted. In this article from our California defense attorneys, we`ll explore this law in more detail below. The American Heritage Dictionary defines a weapon of mass destruction as: “a weapon that can cause widespread destruction or kill a large number of people, especially a nuclear, chemical, or biological weapon.” [108] In other words, they need not be nuclear, biological or chemical (ABC) weapons. For example, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombing, was indicted under U.S. 18 U.S.C.