Air gun guideline is a sensible step

ON WEDNESDAY, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate jointly issued a document on compressed air guns, requiring judiciaries nationwide to comprehensively consider the actual damage caused when making judgments in cases involving their use. Southern Metropolis Daily comments:

The document provides an answer to the long debate over domestic judicial standards on guns. According to the standards, if something can shoot metal or other shells at a starting energy density higher than 0.16 joule per square centimeter, it will be considered an imitation gun. If the energy density exceeds 1.8 joule per sq cm, it will be considered a gun.

The standards are so low that a majority of children's toy guns might be considered guns that are illegal for ordinary citizens to possess. From 2011 to 2015, more than 80,000 people nationwide were involved in over 9,000 cases relating to such "guns".

Among the cases, the one of 51-year-old woman Zhao Chunhua from Tianjin municipality is the most startling. She had a stall where people could shoot ballons with toy guns for fun, but she was arrested and sentenced to three and a half years in prison for "illegally possessing guns" in December 2016. Zhao got a reprieve in January 2017, but the case aroused fierce debate.

Now, by echoing public concerns, the document will help to consolidate people's trust in the rule of law. More importantly, it stresses the principle that the judiciary should consider more the actual damage done, instead of sticking to cold clauses of the law.

The move also sets a good example by allowing the State to interact with public opinions in a good way. The rule of law is a process that requires the drafting of laws, passing them, then amending them if necessary.