William Dong is facing five years on federal charges in addition to the two he picked up from the state in a case that friends call a huge misunderstanding. (Photo: Brian A. Pounds/Fairfield Citizen)
Guns dot com
A college student who was arrested after being found with a rifle in his SUV off campus, pled guilty to a federal weapons charge Thursday of unlawful transport of a firearm.
William Dong, 23, the now-former University of New Haven student incurred the charge when it was discovered he had what Connecticut law classifies as an “assault rifle” that he had acquired legally in Pennsylvania, but illegally transported back to his home state.The student had bought the rifle after closing a deal through guns classified site Armslist.com in September 2013, after Connecticut’s expanded assault weapons ban had taken affect.
Since the Bushmaster XM-15E2S was prohibited in Connecticut, he was charged with a violation of interstate commerce under federal law. Dong entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Hartford and now faces a $250,000 fine and up to five years in federal prison.
Attorney Frederick Paoletti Jr., Dong’s representative, told the New Haven Register that his client had no intention to hurt anyone.
Dong was arrested in 2013 on university grounds with two handguns in his possession while the rifle was locked in his SUV off campus. Dong, who worked at the time for an armored car company, had a clean record and permits for his handguns. His arrest stemmed from a police manhunt after a homeless woman saw the rifle in his vehicle at a drugstore near campus and called authorities to report it.
Charged by the state over the handguns with two counts of having a firearm on unauthorized premises since the university had prohibited guns even with a permit, Dong entered a guilty plea in a local court in exchange for an expected two-year sentence in October.
In custody since last year at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, Dong faces his sentencing hearing from the state of Connecticut Dec. 19.
I love Bob Owens' headline describing the arrest: "Dong pinched by cops for having long gun near campus."
ReplyDeleteThe article is also very much worth reading for its description of the utterly ridiculous scale of the law enforcement response (especially when one considers, as Mr. Owens points out, that, "If it seems like I’m being unfair, please consider this: Dong was already in police custody before these geardos finished lacing up their boots.")
He was arrested for having two guns on his person in a gun free zone, then they discovered the rifle in his vehicle. He's like you, Kurt. He ignores laws he doesn't like.
DeleteHe's like you, Kurt. He ignores laws he doesn't like.
DeleteWell, I try (100% successfully, so far) to do so without getting caught, but I can't dispute that Mr. Dong and I do seem to hold similar views about unjust laws (views also espoused by Henry David Thoreau, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi).
But do you dispute Mr. Owens' assertion that the enormous and enormously expensive) law enforcement response--the vast majority of it deployed after Dong had been arrested was ridiculously over the top?
DeleteSo much for law-abiding citizen.
DeleteAgain, this points up the inconvenient fact gunloons simply don't want to take responsibility for their gun fetish. They want guns but none of the responsibility that comes with it.
That's funny comparing yourself to people of peace like King and Gandhi. You truly are delusional. Your idea of an unjust law is delusional. How many guns you can have is not the same as Civil Rights for human beings. We have been through this before with you criminal, it's getting old. You are Black Panther compared to King. And between the two, we know whose ideology changed a country. I get the feeling you are one who did not like that change.
Delete"(views also espoused by Henry David Thoreau, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi)."
DeleteKurt, you'd be more accurate to compare you scofflaw mentality to that of Loughner, Holmes and Lanza.
"But do you dispute Mr. Owens' assertion that the enormous and enormously expensive) law enforcement response--the vast majority of it deployed after Dong had been arrested was ridiculously over the top?"
DeleteNo, I don't dispute that. So? I know you desperately want to divert attention from the gun criminal and his behavior, but the authorities over-reacted - so what?
Kurt, you'd be more accurate to compare you scofflaw mentality to that of Loughner, Holmes and Lanza.
DeleteWell that's a particularly shining example of buffoonery, Mikeb. Comparing my willingness (and indeed eagerness) to defy unjust laws that create victimless "crimes" to the actions of mass murderers Adjust the meds, Mikeb.
I know you desperately want to divert attention from the gun criminal and his behavior, but the authorities over-reacted - so what?
I don't "desperately want" anything, and have certainly harbored no illusions of making anyone forget Mr. Dong's "crime," but since when is a massive militarized police overreaction a "so what?" situation? Should we say "so what?" about that sort of thing in Ferguson, MO?
You compare yourself to "Henry David Thoreau, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi" and I'M the buffoon? Ha.
DeleteAnd you're comparing the overreaction to this gun nut in CT to the unrest in Ferguson??? But's it's I who needs to adjust the meds, right, Kurt?
But's it's I who needs to adjust the meds, right, Kurt?
DeleteWell, actually, I suspect your condition is beyond the help of any mental health treatment protocol short of euthanasia. You might give it some thought.
Every piece of trash involved with prosecuting this young man should be arrested, tried for treason and executed.
ReplyDeleteThere’s so such thing as a good ‘gun law.’ All gun control is propaganda designed to condition the sheeple to accept more control with total civilian disarmament being the final objective thus all gun control is an act of war. All who forward it should be arrested, tried for treason against human Liberty and executed.
Time to get ready for what will be required:
http://www.freekentucky.com/what-will-be-required/
Now that's what I like to see.
DeleteThese criminals are prepared to start shooting at the drop of a hat. That's probably all it would take.
DeleteKurt, I owe you an apology. The Free Kentucky guy is a real fanatic.
DeleteHe expresses himself more directly than I do, but I'm glad to see a new voice less constrained than mine has so far been by political correctness. I can learn a thing or two from this gentleman.
DeleteI'll bet Free Kentucky is on public assistance.
Delete" I can learn a thing or two from this gentleman."
DeleteReally? Do you know who this "gentleman" is? Do you know, for instance, this "gentleman" believes 9/11 was a conspiarcy? That UFOs are a Govt coverup? That he's part of a group with white supremacist/KKK ties?
Funny all the things jadegold seems to know about me. I feel so violated. Maybe it should actually spend time on my websites, but that's probably too much to ask for...
Delete"I'll bet Free Kentucky is on public assistance." Hahahaha
DeleteJust like Kurt and his hero, Mike V.
Just like Kurt and his hero, Mike V.
DeleteYou seem a bit confused, Mikeb. I can't speak for Mr. Vanderboegh's situation, but I make a living (an admittedly less than opulent one) and pay taxes on it.
And you don't collect disability from the government, Kurt?
DeleteWho is the victim of this "crime?"
ReplyDeleteWilliam Dong.
DeleteWhen someone attempts to break into a house and gets shot, it's their fault for committing the crime of breaking in. But when a concealed carry permit holder decides to ignore the law which says he cannot carry guns onto a university campus and gets busted doing it, it's not his fault. He's the victim.
DeleteHow convenient.
Because a home invasion is a crime with a victim. Being armed where you're not "supposed to" be is not.
DeleteThat's not what the law says. Really, Kurtie, you can't make up the law as you go along.
DeleteI'm not disputing that it is against the law. I'm saying it is victimless.
DeleteUntrue. Are you really arguing that if someone breaks the law--say, driving drunk and nobody gets hurt--it's victimless?
DeleteYes, your example is also victimless. You just described a scenario where no one was hurt. What's your definition of "victim".
DeleteI'm not saying all victimless crimes shouldn't be crimes. There are exceptions, like drunk driving, and it is based on reckless behavior that is much more likely to get someone. If you want to draw parallels to this gun incident, it would be if Dong were drunk and negligently discharged his gun on campus. Then yeah, throw the book at him. Likewise, if someone blows 0.0 on the breathalyzer, but is arrested on an "open container" violation, that is an example of a victimless crime that should go.
Another example is "conspiracy to commit..." where there might not be a victim (yet) but it is still an acceptable crime worthy of punishment.
DeleteTS, it's not up to you to decide which victimless crimes count and which ones don't.
DeleteIt's not up to you either, but that doesn't stop you from starting a blog about your wish list of new crimes. At least I live here.
DeleteIs it up to him to be the ultimate arbiter? No. Does TS have the right to offer an opinion on what should be crimes and what shouldn't? Of course, as does every American.
DeleteBut that was a nice dodge from arguing against him, Mike--just dismiss his opinion outright since he's not in power--the favorite debate tactic of progs.
" At least I live here." I haven't heard that one in a long time. You must be running out of substantive points to argue.
DeleteI don’t care that you’re an expat. I don’t bring it up too much- it might even be the first time. But here you are with your blog, going on and on about how this should be a crime, and that should be a crime, and this guy should be arrested immediately, and I voice my thoughts on unjust crimes, and you come back with “it’s not up me”. Well between us, I’m the one who has to live under these laws you want, so whose voice should count more?
DeleteOur voices should count equally. "You don't even live here" is a cheap shot, which is why you've never resorted to it before. My mother lives in NJ. When I visit, I rejoice in the fact that walking the dog or going to the mall is a bit safer than it would be if she lived in one of the loose gun states. I may move back myself one day, as might my children. So, even the difference you mentioned is not all that great.
DeleteOk, we’ll call our voices equal. So then it is up to me (and everyone else who cares) to protest victimless crimes that should be abolished. Because I don’t want to be arrested under your ridiculous gun laws, and I certainly don’t want to see any children of mine subjected to them in the future, and I rejoice in the fact that my mother lives in a pro-gun state where she can better protect herself and is less subject to arrest because of something silly that you call “proper gun control”. I’m sorry about the “cheap shot”, but remember you started this by saying “it’s not up to me”.
DeleteOut of curiosity (and I really don’t mean this as a dig), are you paying taxes and voting in the states? I think I read once that the USA is one of the few (if only) countries that taxes citizens living abroad making foreign money (which I find BS, by the way- but I guess it’s not up to me).
To claim these are victimless crimes is just wrong, a lie.
DeleteI almost went through the hassle of submitting an absentee vote for Obama but I didn't. Prior to that I was totally apolitical going back to my teen years during Viet Nam. You're right about the requirement for expats to pay taxes - it is BS. There is an exemption on the first $85,000 or so, but I also have a problem with the requirement to file. People who do not earn enough to incur any tax liability at all are still required to file. I guess in this I'm not so different from Kurt. Bad laws be damned, says I.
DeleteI may move back myself one day, as might my children.
DeleteWhat?!? And risk being sucked into the "terrible spiral going down," and being seduced by fat people into becoming obese? ;-)
I just made a note......NEVER GO TO THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT.
ReplyDelete