“Shoot for the moon” is a common idiom, typically meaning to strive for excellence; to do your best.

Well, an Arizona man was arrested Friday after doing his best to actually shoot at the moon – like, with a gun. Probably not what folks had in mind when they coined the phrase.

Local police weren’t impressed either. What kind of trouble can you get yourself into when your literal take on an idiom makes you look like an idiot?

As The Prescott Valley Tribune reports, 39-year-old Cameron Read told his girlfriend and her son that he had seen a comet, then began firing shots out of the window of their house. The woman and son ran outside and called police.

When officers arrived, Read became confrontational, resisting arrest. He later admitted that he had been shooting at the moon and had smoked marijuana earlier in the evening.

Unlawful Discharge of a Firearm

Under Arizona’s Revised Statutes, a person who with criminal negligence discharges a firearm within or into the limits of any municipality is guilty of a Class 6 felony.

Criminal negligence, as defined elsewhere in the statutes, is basically failing to realize how dumb and dangerous what you’re doing is, or as the statute puts it: a failure to perceive a risk that “constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the situation.”

Unlawful discharge of a firearm is a Class 6 felony. In Arizona, a Class 6 felony is what is typically known as a “wobbler”: a crime that can be charged as either a felony or a misdemeanor. A judge can also choose to convict a person charged with a Class 6 felony with a Class 1 misdemeanor, if it would be “unduly harsh to sentence the defendant for a felony.”

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Related Resources:

  • Arizona police Arrest Man for Shooting at the Moon (Reuters)
  • FL Woman Accidentally Shot in Head at Church (FindLaw’s Injured)
  • Illegal to Have Gun Go Off in the Bathroom? (FindLaw’s Blotter)
  • Guns Fired at Campsite; 2 L.A. Deputies Arrested (FindLaw’s Blotter)

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