Posted on 03/27/2009 12:13:19 PM PDT by smokingfrog
Not bad.
So, honestly, had this been Toby Keith or Trace Atkins, what would your view have been? My guess, is that many on this thread would have had a different tone and totally different view.
The support Timothy McVeigh got 14 years ago galls me to this day.
I don't know Keith or Atkins' specific criminal history or even if they have any criminal history. But, if they did have a criminal record, and especially a violent criminal record (like T.I's record of assault on a police officer and numerous drug charges for distribution), I would be equally tough.
Mr. Harris's (T.I.'s real name) long criminal record plus the fact that he made this attempt to purchase machine guns WITH silencers while he was on probation, I believe are extenuating circumstances that demanded serious prison time.
Liberals want to take my right to own a gun away. They want to pass either confiscatory or regulatory legislation that make it impossible to own a weapon of almost any kind as a practical matter. I say in response, aggressively enforce the laws that are already on the books and when those laws are violated - apply the maximum penalty possible. That is the solution to the gun violence in America's urban areas - not the disarmament of the law-abiding public.
T.I's case is a prime example how weapons violations are a paper tiger; libs just want to disarm honest, law abiding citizens.
I would add, when Troy Gentry was charged with a felony for engaging in a "canned" hunt and illegally killing and tagging what was essentially a "tame" bear, I was very hard on him and said so at the time.
I thought that Gentry got off easy and should have seen some jail time with a much, much stiffer penalty. As a life-long hunter, I don't have any sympathy for people that engage in these quasi-poaching events that give the sport and life-style of hunting a very bad name.
Okay, that sounds fair. At times, it seems like there is a double standard in justice, in the arena of public opinion. And the sympahty seems to depend on a person's background.
But if you say you'd be just as hard on Toby Keith or Trace Atkins, I'll take your word for it. Though, I do believe others, on this site, would have different sympathies.
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