CALCRIM No. 970

(Pen. Code, § 246.3)

The defendant is charged [in Count] with shooting a (firearm/BB

Device) in a grossly negligent manner [in violation of Penal Code section

246.3].

To prove that the defendant is guilty of this crime, the People must

prove that:

1. The defendant intentionally shot a (firearm/BB device);

2. The defendant did the shooting with gross negligence;

[AND]

3. The shooting could have resulted in the injury or death of a

person(;/.)

<Give element 4 when instructing on self-defense or defense of another .>

[AND

4. The defendant did not act (in self-defense/ [or] in defense of

someone else).]

Gross negligence involves more than ordinary carelessness, inattention,

or mistake in judgment. A person acts with gross negligence when:

1. He or she acts in a reckless way that creates a high risk of death

or great bodily injury.

AND

2. A reasonable person would have known that acting in that way

would create such a risk.

In other words, a person acts with gross negligence when the way he or

she acts is so different from the way an ordinarily careful person would

act in the same situation that his or her act amounts to disregard for

human life or indifference to the consequences of that act.

[Great bodily injury means significant or substantial physical injury. It is

an injury that is greater than moderate harm.]

[A firearm is any device designed to be used as a weapon, from which a

projectile is discharged or expelled through a barrel by the force of an

explosion or other form of combustion.]

[A BB device is any instrument that expels a projectile, such as a BB or

a pellet, through the force of air pressure, gas pressure, or spring

action.]

[The term[s] (great bodily injury/ [and] firearm ) (is/are) defined in

another instruction to which you should refer.]

New January 2006; Revised June 2007, February 2012, September 2019, September

2020, October 2025