The firearm must have been manufactured prior to a certain year (1898 or 1897 I think). Replicas of such guns are not exempt.
I believe you misread the federal statute regarding 2 years.
Like the judge said, get the ticket taken care of. Call an attorney in Minnesota (and check traffic atty. sites in Minnesota) to see what can be done. Then try and do it yourself. Some states will allow you to take traffic school, even in another state.
Also call the prosecutor and see if they...
You said both cars were stopped.:dunno:
Why would the car that you pushed into another, get a ticket for following too closely.:biglol:
If you use that logic, then the cop could use the logic that you were following both cars too closely and give you 2 tickets.
I never heard of using character reference letters for a traffic ticket and doubt very much that it'll make any difference.
Don't lessen your integrity by going to your grandfather's doctor for a reference letter, especially for something so minor as a traffic ticket.
Stubborness is something...
You were on a hill trying to slow down?
I don't think that defense will work. You should have already slowed down. Even big rigs can do the speed limit down hill.
If you hadn't gotten to the 45 mph zone, then it wasn't yet 45 mph. That defense won't work either.
If they offer traffic...
Don't forget to call the prosecutor and try to get a deferred adjudication. Unless you were a jerk to the cop, they'll usually give it to you, which means you pay a fine but it stays off your driving record.
In Ohio, you only pay the fine for the first offense. Any subsequent offense on the summons is dismissed. Hopefully the headlight ticket was listed first, that means nothing goes on your record.
Before you write him off as guilty...
Read each of the statutes he's been accused of violating. You can find the statutes on findlaw.com or just type the statute number and state, into a search engine such as yahoo.
Read and understand each of the elements of the crime. Determine whether...
Contact an attorney. I'll bet he'll have a good chance getting the case dismissed.
They don't need to read you your rights if they're not going to question you.
It's always best not to confront people the way you and your friend did. You could have avoided the arrest and gotten really good...