Guy kills robber and is busted for the gun, not the shooting

[billdeserthills]

As a former Parole & Probation Officer, I'm all for letting felons have their records expunged after they've paid their debts to society, successfully complete probation/parole, and show they can be law abiding citizens.

As a former Criminal, I feel the same way

 

[Misterbill]

I would support felony-in-possession laws a lot more if so many victimless crimes weren't felonies.

As an exercise I went through a whole laundry list of "crimes" with a classroom full of teachers a few weeks ago and asked them to ask themselves if they'd ever done any of those things. EVERYONE raised their hands having done one or more of them. "You are all felons, you just got lucky and weren't caught." You could hear a pin drop in the room.

When a class full of upstanding folks who've never hurt anyone aren't felons who didn't get caught, maybe felon in possession will have more moral meaning for me. Until then maybe we could concentrate on slamming people for doing actual bad things and stop being so hung-up on the tool they use.

 

[Dlutsky]

Anyone reading this post can probably applaud Mr. Rice's actions in an inarguably hostile environment. Presumably, he was so familiar with hostile environments from his previous felony offenses that it was just second nature for him to grab a gun, point and shoot. This time his actions were noble. Previously, they likely were not. As several have mentioned, Mr. Rice forfeited his right to carry a conceal weapon when he participated in an event deemed severe enough that the public would generally be unsafe if authorities were to afford him this privilege/right again. What do you contend would be a more appropriate alternative for the officers. "Its okay man, I mean you're a felon and all, but like we will let this one slide, Dawg?" He deserved the charged.

 

[gunslinger1911]

Sounds like the police did what was reasonable under the circumstances. The law is there whether we agree with it or not we must obey it. I'd say he got two great breaks, one in saving his own life, and two in getting a reasonable charge considering the fact he was breaking the law.

The time to argue the merits of the constitutionality of a law is not after you have broken and been arrested for breaking that law, because at that point you are a "Defendant" not a "Proponent", big difference.

 

[Misterbill]

I have no quibble with the officers or the DA. The law IS, as it's written. I just question the way the whole thing works out. I'd be for removing probably 80% of all the laws on the books and making "prohibited person" either non-existent or reserved to violent offenders.

 

[ikari2_2000]

Alonzo Harris: "What's wrong with street justice?"

 

[chemist]

Anyone reading this post can probably applaud Mr. Rice's actions in an inarguably hostile environment. Presumably, he was so familiar with hostile environments from his previous felony offenses that it was just second nature for him to grab a gun, point and shoot. This time his actions were noble. Previously, they likely were not. As several have mentioned, Mr. Rice forfeited his right to carry a conceal weapon when he participated in an event deemed severe enough that the public would generally be unsafe if authorities were to afford him this privilege/right again. What do you contend would be a more appropriate alternative for the officers. "Its okay man, I mean you're a felon and all, but like we will let this one slide, Dawg?" He deserved the charged.

Well, Rice had apparently never been convicted of a violent crime. Drug dealing is serious, but you can also get a felony record for trespassing, too. We have to distinguish in our own minds between what the law calls serious and what a reasonable citizen calls serious. Surely Rice can and will go down for the illegal weapon - that's not my issue. There are so many back-door attempts to deny gun ownership these days, and the criminal justice system is probably the most successful of them.

"Far more ridiculous felonies exist, such as felony not-for-profit copyright infringement that doesn't involve tens of thousands of dollars worth of goods being swapped between offending parties. There is also the relatively new felony act of breaking the encryption on DVDs that you have lawfully acquired in order to make, get this, a backup copy of the movie in case the original is damaged or destroyed."
Code Monkey Ramblings « The difference between "progress" and a hamster wheel is the latter at least burns calories

"Does it make sense to give somebody a life-long 'felony' tag for stealing a goat? Searching Craigslist I found a "Nigerian Dwarf Buck Goat" for sale in Caldwell, TX for $35. Should it really be a state jail felony if someone steals a $35 animal?"
Grits for Breakfast: Should it be a felony to steal a $35 goat?

"In the state of Michigan, cheating on a spouse is considered a felony, though no one has been charged with the crime since 1971. However, news of the vague and seldom-enforced law made international headlines when an appeals judge warned that adultery could technically land cheating spouses a life prison sentence."
Adultery Could Mean Life Imprisonment in Michigan - Criminal Law Lawyer Source

 

[tionico]

First, the mayor and police in Cleveland, Ohio, are the most rabid anti-gun folks on the continent.. yes, in the same league as Chicago's system. They recently lost a state appeals court hearing concerning their own special gun control laws, enacted at city level despite the fact that Ohio State law preempts all local laws. Guess what? They are appealing to the Ohio Supreme Court. They believe no private citizen should possess arms within their city, and have arrested citizens from other parts of the state who were found in otherwise lawful possession within their city. That bit of background to set the stage....

as some have pointed out, there are MANY otherwise normal actions that are, at law, felonies.. victimless crimes, non-violent crimes, we have become a nation lf out of control law "enforcement". Time juries begin refusing to convict on these ridicuous "felonies". Possession of a federally "controlled substance" is a felony????? On what basis? On what basis do the federal government have ANY constitutional grounds for regulating such things? None.... that's what.

How about this.. in Thurston county, it is a FELONY to shoot a cat.... even a feral nuisance cat. Someone's place is overrun by wildly breeding nuisance cats, he can't shoot them. They are too wily for traps, animal control won't help, (short handed), not enough coyotes in the area.... so the guy takes his 10/22 and ventilates a few of them, after first checking that it IS legal to shoot on his property. bango, all of a sudden the animal control folks have enough manpower to come along and enforce THAT part of the code... and the poor sap loses his 2A rights for at least a LONG time... and the sheriffs come and seize ALL his firearms and destroy them.... after all, he's a FELON now.....

Or how about this... ever driven within a thousand feet of ANY public or private grade or high school with a hunting rifle in your trunk, cased and unloaded, and not one round of ammo anywhere in the car? Surprise.... you're a felon. Where I live, it is impossible to drive from my house to any freeway onramp without passing within a thousand feet of one of those schools. If caught, I COULD become an instant felon, lose my 2A rights, and have all my weapons seized.

See how stupid this is? I loved the post from the chap in Yakima, in the room with decent law abiding citizens..... every one of whom are simply uncaught felons and just didn't know it.
Until we know what this poor sap did to acquire the monniker "felon", I can't fault him. We don't even know whose gun it was.... was it someone elses that just happened to be available? If his "felony" was controlled substance possession (remember, it doesn't take much, by federal statutes, to reach the feolony level) that is no grounds, morally speaking, for losing his right to defend himself or those round about him. Perhaps the law makes provision for that, but I'll plainly state the law is wrong... far outside the intent of the Constitution. Felonies were originally intended to be SERIOUS crimes against persons, causing bodily harm, or VERY serious crimes against property. Shooting feral nuisance cats, driving along a public roadway in front of a school with a hunting rifle in your trunk, possessing a specified (minuscule) amount of an herb your own state deems lawful to own, these are NOT felonies. Juries need to begin nullifying such charges...... and citizens need to rise up and demand felony charges be reserved for SERIOUS crimes rather than frivolous, harmless, simple, innocuous deeds. And particularly those deeds taht seem to be more common amongst certain classes of people.