Unintentionally assisting someone&#39;s suicide
<p>Let's say I drop my gun on the street (accidentally or not). A man walks by, picks up my gun, and shoots himself in the head.</p>
<p>Should I be convicted?</p>

<p>The <em>legal</em> question is whether you can be convicted of a crime under the laws of some jurisdiction on earth. I'll start by assuming that you are in a jurisdiction where you can legally possess firearms and carry them in public. Since you added &quot;and commits suicide&quot;, I assume you're not asking if it is a crime to drop a firearm, the question is just criminal culpability for this consequence. Now we will zoom into the laws of a specific jurisdiction, Washington state. <a href="https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=9A.36.060" rel="noreferrer">RCW 9A.36.060</a> says</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A person is guilty of promoting a suicide attempt when he or she
knowingly causes or aids another person to attempt suicide.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The question then is whether your act &quot;knowingly causes or aids&quot; an attempted suicide. You turn to <a href="https://govt.westlaw.com/wcrji/Document/Ief9e62d9e10d11daade1ae871d9b2cbe?transitionType=Default&amp;bhcp=1&amp;contextData=(sc.Default)&amp;ignorebhwarn=IgnoreWarns" rel="noreferrer">the jury instructions</a> to see what that means:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A person knows or acts knowingly or with knowledge with respect to a
[fact] [circumstance] [or] [result] when he or she is aware of that
[fact] [circumstance] [or] [result]. [It is not necessary that the
person know that the [fact] [circumstance] [or] [result] is defined by
law as being unlawful or an element of a crime.] If a person has
information that would lead a reasonable person in the same situation
to believe that a fact exists, the jury is permitted but not required
to find that he or she acted with knowledge of that fact. [When acting
knowingly [as to a particular fact] is required to establish an
element of a crime, the element is also established if a person acts
intentionally [as to that fact].]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The outcome depends on specific circumstances. For example, &quot;accidentally and unknowingly drop and leave&quot; will not sustain a conviction. &quot;Intentionally drop and leave&quot; could, but you would also have to other information connecting the suicide to the availability of a weapon. If you intentionally drop and leave a firearm at a shooting range, a reasonable person would not think &quot;OMG someone might see this weapon and kill themselves with it! Hahaha!&quot;. You can spin a yarn where you know that Smith is suicidal and will kill himself if he has a weapon, so that dropping the gun off constitutes &quot;knowingly aiding&quot;.</p>

suicide