Eliminating Gun Enhancements Not a Bad Idea, Hiding Criminal Records Is

AmmoLand readers might be surprised to learn I agree about ending gun enhancements, just not for the same reasons. And I don’t think these folks are going to like my alternatives. (Initiate Justice/Facebook)

U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “Reform-minded activists in California vow to move forward after a bill that would have dramatically reduced, and in some cases eliminated, enhanced sentences for crimes committed while using a gun failed to advance through the legislature,” Fox News reports. “The state lawmakers who backed the Anti-Racism Sentencing Reform Act claim the existing law, which allows prosecutors to seek additional time behind bars, is racist — 89% of the roughly 40,000 inmates serving gun enhancement sentences in California are people of color, according to figures from Restore Justice.”

One could argue that 89% reflects personal behaviors that have nothing to do with “systemic racism,” and that excuse is being used by “progressive” gaslighters to deflect responsibility and shift blame. Combine that with using the same excuse to evade accountability for the violent crimes themselves, and it’s obvious they’re looking for a race-based hard pass on punishments of any kind.

That said, before kneejerk dismissing eliminating enhanced sentences for guns, those who advocate for the right to keep and bear arms might want to think it through. Is the idea really that insane?

It’s been my longstanding contention anyone who can’t be trusted with a gun can’t be trusted without a custodian. That could range from maximum security solitary for the most dangerous offenders to a secured care facility for the ones whose behavioral improvements warrant observed and tested movement toward reintegration into society. As the late Robert Kukla observed in his classic book Gun Control, you wouldn’t sentence a man-eating tiger to x years and then just open the cage when its time was “served.” Unless you were a maniac.

But that’s the state of our current “justice” system. Who thinks if you let predators out, they won’t be able to get a gun when they want one or kill people using something else? Aside from useful idiots who believe the propaganda from the violence monopolists?

In terms of gun enhancement penalties, that’s why the Project Exile Condemnation Coalition was formed 20 years ago to oppose the NRA-backed federal program. Our position was:

The signers of this statement support any reasonable law-enforcement program that removes violent repeat-offender felons from our cities and neighborhoods, but only if the laws utilized to convict and to punish such felons are constitutional.

We condemn any program that involves enforcing unconstitutional ‘laws’, even if such ‘laws’ are enforced only against violent criminals. Unconstitutional ‘laws’ are illegal, harmful to public safety, tyrannical, and are inevitably enforced against ordinary, non-criminal citizens.

The ‘Project Exile’ supported by the current NRA management calls for enforcing all existing gun laws, regardless of their unconstitutionality and regardless of their being enforceable against non-criminals. Furthermore, the current NRA management’s quoted remarks … indicate a disregard for our public safety, our heritage, our freedom, and our Constitution.

Think about it: If they ban semiautos and you do not comply, guess who gets caught up in the net. Ditto if you defy a magazine ban or a due process-denying “red flag” prohibition, or any of the innumerable prior restraints and citizen disarmament diktats designed to separate you from your rights.

It was because of this that I came out so strongly against Rep. Amen Brown’s proposal to add to the enhancements (I wish these Democrats would make up their minds), and was candidly surprised to be contacted by some gun advocates telling me I was wrong. His bill would be specifically worded to include only “the baddest of the bad,” who had been caught in violation of gun possession prohibitions multiple times, they argued.

I’ve been holding off on revisiting that because I haven’t seen the text of Brown’s proposed bill yet, but I’ll tell you right now that doesn’t matter to me. It does not change the reasons the Coalition gave for opposing Project Exile. Supporting it gives gun owner sanction to the contention that “gun control” works, and who hasn’t seen the Democrats pass a bill and then come back and say they need still more? Give it time and some outraged harridan in  Moms Demand shirt will be screaming about a “boyfriend loophole” or some hustler will be demanding to close the “hater loophole.”

“Gun advocates” endorsing such “laws” falsely legitimize them in the public’s mind. Plus, you give in on one front and that’s one less obstacle the grabbers will need to overcome on their long march to their end game—having it all. Because yes, despite the ubiquitous denials, they are doing more than talking about taking our guns.

The hell with that.

OK, but possession is one thing. What if the bad guy uses a gun in a crime?

Remember what Archie Bunker said (proving sometimes “liberals” make a good point when they don’t mean to)? If you murder someone, or assault someone, or rob someone, or threaten someone, the circumstances will dictate the severity and you need to go away until you are penitent (as in “penitentiaries”), you make restitution, and you prove through actions that can be evaluated and adjudicated that you are no longer a danger.

If you can’t do that, sorry. Not.

Meanwhile, those seeking to let criminals escape accountability for their choices aren’t done. Now they want to pull another Cultural Marxist scam and erase history.

“The Clean Slate Act, which is sponsored by state senator Zellnor Myrie, a Democrat who represents parts of Brooklyn, would remove publicly available criminal records for most felonies and misdemeanor crimes after people have completed the terms of their punishments,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

What could go wrong?

And no surprise here: Myrie wants someone else to pay the tab for crimes with “S.1048-A, legislation aimed at the gun industry’s immunity from civil lawsuits stemming from the dangers posed by its products.”

Have you noticed how citizen disarmament fanatics always hold the wrong people accountable?


About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.

David Codrea

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Hazcat

If you have served your sentence then ALL of your rights should be restored. If ‘society’ thinks you are too dangerous to have all of your rights then you are too dangerous to be in public.

swmft

that is how it worked until 1940s control the blacks returning from war, married white women , a lot of the bad laws including gun control are bassed in racism , dont want to pay a living wage? let in illegals slaves in another guise they did the same after ww1 oklahoma burned a whole section of town because black ww1 vets were getting too successful

Sisu

Thoughtful, perspective – appropriate “long-term” perspective (certain other regular contributors to this site’s content should study your essays). I suggest all readers follow your link in sixth paragraph above to: https://keepandbeararms.com/information/XcIBViewItem.asp?ID=720 And, those who remain NRA Members (or members of state affiliates) should ask those organizations: Why is “… but only if the laws utilized to convict and to punish such felons are constitutional.” not a precondition to all legislation they support ? … And, If so then why is not the primary purpose of the associations they represent the repeal all statutes, rules & regulations, administrative procedures, etc. that… Read more »

Roland T. Gunner

Far too many of our pro-gun “allies” insist on throwing an “except” or a “but” into the mix, qualifying the defense of gun ownership for certain citizens or firearms.

Roland T. Gunner

What is a “harridan”? Isn’t that something like a “harpy” or a “shrew”? Excellent article David.

Darkman

Great Article. More on AB1509:
California Democratic lawmakers look to remove penalty for possessing firearm during crime | Fox News
https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-democratic-lawmakers-look-to-remove-penalty-for-possessing-firearm-during-crime

Not A. Potato

And he also had that website looking to hire people from all walks of life to fill his administration. Yeah, that didn’t last long either.

Arizona

You must have missed the news- obama staffers destroyed the records of all the applicants. The Trump team never got access to a single one of the applicants info.

FL-GA

Keep it simple:
Some people prove to the rest of us that they cannot co-exist within a free society. They must be removed, permanently, from that society.
The Death Penalty can be done away with, since many violent offenders are set free by juries afraid of “killing an innocent person by mistake” when Death is sought by the prosecutor, (OJ, Casey Anthony), but there still should be a way to PERMANENTLY keep those people from harming anyone else.

swmft

hello trump was from new yak city he has been drinking that gun control bs his whole life,there are NO republicans in ny city , he was just better choice than billery

Savage

I can’t even imagine what we would look like today if Hillary had won.