Plinking Definition: Casual recreational shooting, often at cans and other items found lying around. Joseph Mark Hanson lived and worked in Campbell County, Wyoming and he was out with his new Ruger, Model P85, 9mm handgun. At the time that he purchased the gun, Mr. Hanson was on probation from a state conviction for possession of marijuana and methamphetamine. But Mr. Hanson was prohibited by the state probation order from possessing firearms and he was caught with the firearm. He tried to tell the court he had the gun for sporting purposes only; he had just been out plinking. Though he was not believed and convicted for breach of probation, Justice McConnell of the United States Court of Appeals wrote:"Plinking - casual recreational shooting, often at cans and other items found lying around - is a form of target shooting, and many people engage in target shooting for amusement and recreation. That plinking is casual, rather than organized or competitive, does not disqualify it as sporting. We and several other circuits have assumed that target shooting, organized or unorganized, is a sporting purpose." REFERENCES:US v. Hanson, 534 F. 3d 1315 Categories & Topics: Criminal Law Dictionary Find you are constantly looking up definitions? Try our search provider (works in most modern browsers) If you find an error or omission in Duhaime's Legal Dictionary, or if you have legal term suggestion, we'd love to hear from you!