Project Exile - tough-on-guns initiative

wmdt.com ^

[chance33_98]

Project Exile

By JOSH DAVIDSBURG (SALISBURY, MD -- WMDT) 1/8/2004

With a brand new set of advertisements Wicomico County's Project Exile is reaching the public.

The agency is receiving $140,000 from the government for the tough-on-guns initiative. Part of the money will be used to pay for a media blitz.

Assistance State's Attorney Andrew MacDonald says the money will go to spreading the word, but they've already started the program.

"We don't need money to aggressively prosecute gun crimes. We always aggressively prosecuted gun crimes," says MacDonald.

Project exile is a program started this summer that targets gun crimes. It translates to harsher penalties for criminals carrying illegal guns.

Because of Project Exile, some gun crimes now go to a federal level. That means harsher penalties, no parole and you could serve your sentence out anywhere across the country.

"If you carry an illegal gun, if you use a gun to commit a crime, you're going to jail for a long time," says MacDonald.

It's too early to know how well the program will work.

MacDonald says the word is spreading throughout the correctional system, and with the new commercials, word will spread throughout the county.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

..."If you carry an illegal gun, if you use a gun to commit a crime, you're going to jail for a long time," says MacDonald....

They're getting the programs in place for this fall when nearly all guns will be come illegal guns.

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[Atlas Sneezed]

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[joesnuffy]

With a brand new set of advertisements Wicomico County's Project Exile is reaching the public.

The agency is receiving $140,000 from the government for the tough-on-guns initiative. Part of the money will be used to pay for a media blitz.

Seizing taxes to be used in a media blitz brainwashing against those who pay those taxes...

[dixierat22]

Here in Florida, we've had the 10,20,life program for several years. That and the CCW laws have really done a lot to reduce guncrime. Unless I'm mistaken, Maryland is one of the more restrictive states...

[drypowder]

"If you carry an illegal gun, if you use a gun to commit a crime, you're going to jail for a long time"

I guess this means that only the criminals need be concerned. Not!

[marktwain]

The problem is, of course, that not only are "gun crimes" numerous petty, but that it is impossible for an ordinary person to determine if he is committing a "gun crime" or not.

Is the SKS he has from Albania or Russia? One is legal, the other is not. Does his semi-automatic have a bayonet lug? If it does, he may be in violation. If it doesn't, he may not. Is the magazine that was in the pistol he bought labeled "law enforcement only, or is it an identical one not labeled in that way? It is the difference that amounts to five years in jail.

The major effect of all these insane laws, is of course, for ordinary people to figure that the only way to avoid gun crime is to not have any guns. Of course, that is probably the intent.

An unintended consequence may be that people who know they need a gun may just know they are likely to be in violation, so they might as well not worry about what laws they violate.

[Papabear47]

Along with the free ride President Bush is willing to give illegal aliens he has also stated that he will extend the AWB if it comes to his desk which of course it will as various democrats are crafting even more restrictive legislation which our Republicrat legislators will fight with feather dusters and then give in and bring the AWB as it is or possibly worse to his desk for the obligatory save the children signature.I am very disappointed in the President as he seems hell bent on out Democrating the Democrats in spending on feel good social issues,foreign aid to American haters and sneak attacks on our Constitutional rights such as Patriot Act II.He is following in the footsteps of FDR,Truman IKE,JFK,Nixon,Carter,his father and Ctinton.It seems that Sophistry is a prerequisite to politics....I will vote Libertarian next election if all of this transpires as I imagine it will,even though I am not in full accord with some of their beliefs I cannot vote to destroy our Constitution....I know,Libertarians are far from perfect and Democrats are mostly socialist/communists,however it appears that our current administration is no better than the Dems and possibly worse.

[Texas Federalist]

Does Exile apply to crimes like possession of an illegal weapon, or only to crimes that occur independant of the possession of the weapon while the person is in possession of an illegal firearm? (For example, possession of an illegal firearm would not be an Exile offense, but selling marijuana while in possession of an illegal firearm would.) I thought it was the latter.

[TERMINATTOR]

I thought the Second Amendment prohibited infringements like "illegal weapons"? Or has the "living constitution" moved beyond obeying the law?

Molon Labe!

[Texas Federalist]

When I speak of "illegal weapons" I am thinking in the sense of a felon in possession of a handgun, not the weapon itself. Even under the broadest Second Amendment interpretation, I don't think you can make much of an argument that a law prohibiting a convicted felon from carrying a hangun is unconstitutional.

[TERMINATTOR]

A "felon" is someone serving a sentence. Once they have completed that, they are ex-cons. "nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law" -Fifth Amendment (excerpt). A blanket loss of God given inalienable rights for a whole class of people, is not "due process of law".

[Travis McGee]

This will just about cover everything. If you have a gun in your car when you're stopped for speeding....and it's in the wrong place or secured "improperly" is it an illegal gun? Just ask the power mad gun grabbers.

[philetus]

Soon, it won't matter what state you live in.

[Travis McGee]

The linear projections are grim in some respects, but history usually throws out curveballs.

[Texas Federalist]

A "felon" is someone serving a sentence. Once they have completed that, they are ex-cons. "nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law" -Fifth Amendment (excerpt). A blanket loss of God given inalienable rights for a whole class of people, is not "due process of law".

I understand your argument and it has merit. Yet felons have deprived themselves of rights via their own conduct. There is no provision in the Constitution limiting their "sentence" to the time they spend in jail. A relinquishment of some rights after they are released can be viewed as an extension of that sentence. Nevertheless, I was trying to obtain more information on Exile because in a country where the government deprives us non-felons of so many God-given rights, I would be much less concerned about Exile if it applies only to ex-felons committing a crime while in possession of a firearm. If it applies also to those, for example, possessing a weapon while under a domestic violence restraining order, as some have implied, I would be much more actively opposed.

[TERMINATTOR]

Yes once they started down that slipery slope with so called "felons", they've expanded it to those not yet convicted of any crime - restraining orders. Then misdemenors with maximum sentence of over a year, regardless of what your actual sentence was. No doubt they will expand the definition of "people" even further. Who are "the people" mentioned in the Second Amendment? Are we returning to Negros = 3/5 of a person, women not really people, certain "special" classes not really people? What ever happened to "all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, amoung these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" - Declaration of Independence.

Oh, that old thing doesn't apply now a days! (/sarcasm)