Chistopher Czinner: Turramurra man pleads guilty to possessing an unauthorised pistol
A Turramaurra man is warning people about the consequences of playing with gel pistols after he was charged, unaware the items were illegal.
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A man was mucking around with a group of mates who were playing with toy guns in a park when police swooped in and charged him with possessing an unauthorised pistol, a court has heard.
Chistopher Czinner, 33, of Turramurra pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced at Hornsby Local Court today but the magistrate said she understood his intentions were “innocent”.
According to papers tendered in court, about 3am police were called to Auluba Oval in South Turramurra on January 22 where Czinner and a co-accused were hanging out with friends.
Court papers reveal when police approached the co-accused his first reaction was to run into the bathrooms with police noticing a “gel gun in his hands”.
He was instructed to come out and surrender the gel gun, and he complied with the officers orders.
The court documents continue to explain Czinner remained seated on a milk crate with one of the toy guns in his lap, which was handed to police.
Police facts state Czinner and the co-accused “informed police that they belonged to unknown males who had already left the location. They informed police that they were shooting plastic bottles”.
During court proceedings on August 5 Czinner’s lawyer Mr Galluzo said his client thought the gel pistol was a “toy” and didn’t realise he was doing anything wrong, or illegal which is why he didn’t run as police approached.
“The owner of the guns ran away, my client thought it was a toy. My client works all night and your honour he went for a walk. Friends of [the co-accused] had the guns and left, my client was just sitting there,” Mr Galluzo said.
Mr Galluzo said the guns weren’t very powerful and the gel could only travel “two to five metres”.
Magistrate Louise McManus stated it seemed “they were just sitting in the park using the gel guns”.
“The facts really show you were doing something innocent, there was nothing to it. You were using a plastic type gun to shoot gel without knowing you’re not allowed to have replicas,” Magistrate McManus said.
“You’re an intelligent young man, you placed yourself in a lot of danger as well with police, stay clear of that sort of thing. You could imagine that they would fear for their safety.
“Any member of the public that hears or sees people with guns, it causes a lot of stress and anxiety. That’s why a toy or something like a replica is illegal.”
He received a conditional release order of nine months with no conviction recorded.
Outside court Czinner told the Advocate he wanted to raise awareness about the risks of playing with toy guns as he was not aware there was a law prior to the incident.
“There was no threat, I picked it up because it was the fascination of ‘I haven’t seen this before’, if I thought it could have been dangerous I wouldn’t have handled it.
“It looked like a fake gun, it didn’t look real”.
His father who was there in support added his son was in “the wrong place, at the wrong time”.
“I understand why it’s a law but it’s not publicly known.. We didn’t know about the laws. If I would have been there, I would have picked it up out of curiosity too,” Christopher Czinner’s father said.
“We’ve looked into it and realised what a trap it is because you can buy them on the internet quite easily and there’s nothing on the packaging that says this is not allowed.”