Via Joan Peterson we have this story:
A suspect was arrested Wednesday in connection with a burglary last week at Shooter’s Supply in Superior….Officers with the Duluth and Superior police departments worked together to make the arrest in Duluth based on a felony warrant issued in Douglas County. Information gathered during the investigation provided the basis for the warrant.
Cody James Johnson, 19, was arrested on a warrant for burglary, arming self with dangerous weapons. He is lodged in the St. Louis County Jail awaiting extradition.
Joan laments that guns got into the illegal market. I agree that that sucks, nobody wants the criminal element to be armed. But let’s again look at this story.
First up, it sucks that criminals get guns….but name a nation in the world where the criminals don’t have guns?
Second, Joan is always talking about universal background checks. Does she think that crap would stop STEALING from a shop? Does she think that if Minnesota had laws similar to Massachusetts, this guy would have taken his stolen property to another gun shop to undergo the proper background checks?
Does Joan think that maybe we need less gun shops, so they are less than likely to be robbed? Because that would make complying with her bogus background check laws a LOT harder too. (I would argue that’s the whole point!)
But did you notice something? This guy was a criminal, and arrested without “Pulling the Trigger”. All cops had to do was find him.
Breaking into a store and stealing stuff is a Felony.
Possessing Stolen guns is a Felony.
Him being a previous felon, possessing ANY gun is a Felony.
ALL THEY HAVE TO DO IS FIND HIM TO PUT HIM IN JAIL! ALL THEY HAVE TO DO IS FIND HIM TO MAKE A GOOD CASE OF SENDING HIM TO PRISON!
Now let’s look at the other side…let’s say we’re suddenly we’re England. Guns are banned, you want a gun? FUCK YOU, you can’t have one. But in this case, the cops don’t find the criminals.
There we see the crux of the pro-rights argument that says “repeal the stupid laws, and enforce the laws we already have!”
The key to this problem is simply enforcement and adjudication. The Anti-Rights side simply states that by adding more laws, that make criminal’s activity just as illegal, and turn people who HURT NOBODY into criminals will solve this problem.
NO!
My sentiment is, I want someone, anyone, to intellectually defend any gun law that would actually positively impact overall crime. So far, I deem them all USELESS.
Three reasons:
1) They have to target criminals and deter them from obtaining/using firearms.
2) The laws have to be enforced (as shown in the main point of your excellent post).
3) The [un]intended consequence of reducing the self defense capability of citizens.
Since reason #2 is covered so well, let’s look at reason #1. Law-abiding citizens, by definition, follow the law, so any laws about safe storage, prohibited places, magazine capacity and so on, will be obeyed. These guns would not be used by the good citizen to do a crime, so they might was well be death ray-guns since the result would be the same…no blood in the streets. They are inherently safe in the hands of the good guys.
In the hands of criminals, the laws are universally ignored. They do not care about gun free school zones, magazine capacity, concealed carry licenses, registration, ten day waiting periods, a gun a month, background checks, micro-stamping, etc. These are all ridiculous on their face and those who support them should be ashamed of themselves. Advocating for laws that impede citizens and empower criminals is evil, despite good intentions (I’m being charitable here, ascribing good intentions to some of gun control advocates). For those who support gun control for nefarious purposes, such as squelching dissent or general civilian disarmament; do remember the Nazis, they took the guns and killed millions, including their own, and eventually had to be put down like rabid dogs. Never Again! Molon Labe!
The real travesty of justice is when the criminal gets their gun law violations dropped in a plea deal or just rolled into their sentence. Even those special laws for additional penalties for use of a firearm are enforced so poorly as to gut their deterrence value. The justice system recognizes that the firearm is just a tool of their trade and rarely comes down hard on a criminal because they used a gun. I’d argue, they do not need to as the bogus “gun death” metric gives it an unearned emphasis. Robbery, rape and murder are just that….robbery, rape and murder. If the criminal used a letter opener to knife the victim to death, they are still dead, despite no firearm use.
Yep, and when we see violent crime in America, very often the criminal has a long history of other violent crimes, yet is freely traveling in society.
Its the man, not the gun, that is dangerous!
See, This is where it gets interesting. When someone who actually knows the person you ‘attack’ comes in and tells you – you’re an idiot.
Do you know Cody? Do you know how he grew up? Do you know how much effect, growing up as someone does changes every single tiny aspect of their life?
Do You know a SINGLE living human being who has NEVER committed a SINGLE wrong, regrettable act in their life? No.. And if you say ‘yes’..you’re a liar…Go drown yourself in the dirt.
You know NOTHING of this Boy. NOTHING. Other than the things posted/said/etc. by people who make a living ‘pretending’ to know ‘what’ a person is; and then writing about it.
You are no better than his criminal actions – slamming him down.
Just think.. You could have planted a tree, to help make this world a better place for everyone, and our future. – But you chose to go after someone you don’t even know – over a crime he committed. He is as AMAZING a …sorry.. He is INFINITELY MORE amazing, kind, caring, loving, than people like this.
You. Are. Scum.
A man is not defined by the sum of the things that has happened to him in his life…he is defined by how he responds to those things.
Do I know anyone who has never committed a single wrong in their life? Probably not. Do good people sometimes do bad things? Yes.
Does that excuse people from the consequences of their actions? Oh…HELL no. That’s such a meretricious argument it makes me feel stupider just for having to address it.
What’s interesting is the blatant hypocrisy of your comment. Do you know Weer’d? Do you know what challenges he’s faced in his life and what he’s had to overcome?
To paraphrase someone that I seem to have read somewhere lately:
You know NOTHING of [Weer’d]. NOTHING. Other than the things posted/said/etc. by people who make a living ‘pretending’ to know ‘what’ a person is; and then [posting comments] about it.
You are no better than his [insensitive] actions – slamming him down.
Just think.. You could have planted a tree, to help make this world a better place for everyone, and our future. – But you chose to go after someone you don’t even know – over a [blog post he put up]. He is as AMAZING a …sorry.. He is INFINITELY MORE amazing, kind, caring, loving, than people like this.
Far be it from me to self-righteously pass judgement on someone as you seem to be so quick to do, but there does seem to be some scum floating around here somewhere…but I don’t think it’s located where you think it is.
Wow Weer’d, you sure get some winners. I was going to try to directly address the commenter’s points, but my brain rebelled at actually having to re-read that crap. I could actually feel my brain cells dying in protest. I did re-read your post several times trying to see where you “slammed him down,” but I couldn’t find it. You accurately described him as a previous felon, but this is a simple statement of fact, not a slam.
This is why I always redact the names of the criminals I report on in my blog. People stupid enough to try to make their way in life by committing multiple felonies generally have stupid friends. Those stupid friends are sometimes just computer savvy enough to figure out how to use Google and then they might show up on my blog and post comments that kill my brain cells with their utter stupidity. I know that stupid people exist. It’s helpful if they don’t come to my blog and show me exactly how stupid they are with their comments. It not only kills my brain cells but also my faith in humanity.
Nick, you could have just left us a link to this video
http://youtu.be/kHmvkRoEowc
ah, another person who believes jaywalking is morally equivalent to armed robbery.
I think this world would likely be a better place if the gun shop owner (or one of the apparent other victims of this choir boy you’re so enamored of) had been there and put a permanent end to his life of crime.
What you are ‘Nick’ is what’s known as an enabler. YOU are helping him continue his lifestyle by blaming every one and every thing else EXCEPT for Cody and the choice HE made to be a criminal. Maybe you should have taken him out to ‘plant a tree’ instead of ignoring his crimes.
So yes, you are an idiot and a lot closer to ‘scum’ than Weer’d or any of the other posters here.
I shall have to fall back on my rude ways. FUCK YOU. And the horse you rode in on, too! Oh he’s so amazing. So amazing he had to steal and destroy other people’s property. So kind to hurt other people’s livelihood. So caring to arm criminals so they can better terrorize their victims and fellows. You call Weerd scum but I wonder how much you’ve done to try to stop your friend’s dangerous ways. I doubt you’ve done a damn thing. So, I call you vermin. You are nothing more than the worms in a stray cat’s shit. A parasite that won’t do anything useful.