Court- BB guns are not firearms

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- BB guns don't qualify as dangerous weapons or firearms, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled Friday -- although Cody Junior would probably argue otherwise.

Junior lost his left eye after being shot with a BB gun in 1998.

He was shot by Joshua T. Davis, who was convicted of armed violence, aggravated battery and battery after a Henry County trial court said the BB gun was not technically a firearm but was enough like one that it fell under the state's armed violence statute. Davis was sentenced to six years in prison.

He contested his conviction, saying the BB gun did not qualify as a dangerous weapon under the statute.

The high court agreed. It pointed to the law's specific definition of a dangerous weapon.

The ruling vacated Davis' conviction.