Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Focus on the Criminal not the Gun

In Maryland, the governor is trying to take the old pro-gun advice. Unfortunately, his efforts are met with the same obstacles as straight gun control.
Gov. Martin O'Malley is joining Baltimore officials in calling for tougher penalties for gun crimes.

Similar proposals in past years have faced a tough audience in the House Judiciary Committee and Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, which hear testimony on crime legislation and have been reluctant to add mandatory sentences or to restrict the prison system's ability to release offenders early.
Maybe when they say don't focus on the tool but rather on the person, they're just spouting empty words. It seems like in Maryland both efforts are met with the same resistance.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

6 comments:

  1. Similar proposals in past years have faced a tough audience in the House Judiciary Committee and Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, which hear testimony on crime legislation and have been reluctant to add mandatory sentences or to restrict the prison system's ability to release offenders early.

    I don’t see the NRA or other gun rights groups in opposition. There is Melissa Rock (child welfare director of Advocates for Children and Youth), I don’t think she is in the pocket of the NRA. Incidentally, both the Maryland House Judiciary Committee and the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee are 2/3rds democratic. Ask Jade, he’ll tell you. You didn’t specifically blame this on the NRA, or the right- but I caught that implication. Was I wrong?

    So why are Maryland democrats so opposed to sensible gun control?

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  2. The problem is that the prisons are full. That's because there are a lot of non-violent offenders in prison serving terms because of antiquated drug laws. Most of these laws don't allow early release, but sentences for violent crimes do. That's why we hear these stories about some guy who was in prison for a violent crime who gets out early and commits another violent crime.

    How about we let the non-violent offenders out on early release and keep the violent offenders locked up for the full term of their sentences, huh?

    Mike

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  3. If "gun crime" is to be treated any more harshly than an equally violent, equally heinous crime committed without a gun, then we're right back to "focus[ing] on the tool." By the way, since illegal possession of a gun, or possession of a gun banned by Maryland's draconian laws, is in no way violent or heinous, and is an utterly victimless "crime," then subjecting such "crimes" to even harsher penalties is, of course, simply compounding the evil of Maryland's draconian gun laws.

    Right?

    Right.

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  4. Mike said, "How about we let the non-violent offenders out on early release and keep the violent offenders locked up for the full term of their sentences, huh?"

    You got my vote. We'd still need to do something about the gun availability, though.

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  5. @Mikeb,

    You said:
    "We'd still need to do something about the gun availability, though."

    I hate to sound like a broken record, but nobody's answered this yet:

    It's all been tried, it's all failed. You (and almost every other gun control advocate I've ever asked) cannot answer the question: WHERE has gun control ever been proven to actually work as advertised and LOWER the violent crime rate involving firearms?

    Patiently waiting,

    ...Orygunner...

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  6. Orygunner, I hope by now you've seen my answer on the other thread or over at Joe Huffman's place.

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