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Prosecutors and judges go too easy on gun violations

There have been 67 mass shootings in the U.S. in the first 45 days of 2023. It’s obvious we’re not doing a good enough job of keeping guns away from people who shouldn’t have them.

That’s because Republicans and the Supreme Court are blocking nearly all gun control efforts, leaving little to work with except laws barring convicted criminals from having guns. Last week rightwing judges on a federal appeals court ruled that even domestic violence perpetrators are entitled to have guns (see story here).

It’s obvious, you’ll say, we need to do something about those judges. When gun ideology trumps innocent lives in the courts, those judges become an action item. I’d agree, but how? Federal judges are appointed for life. (Biden’s Department of Justice is trying to do something about rogue judges; read that story here.)

As for amending or repealing the Second Amendment, as one blogger said, “We couldn’t amend the Constitution to agree the sky is blue.” A couple generations of conservatives will have to die off before societal attitudes change enough to make that politically possible.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the latest shooting to make headlines, Michigan’s governor is demanding Congress do something (see story here), but of course that’ll hit the Republican blockade against gun laws again.

One thing current prosecutors and judges could do, though, is enforce the feeble laws that have made it past the gun lobby’s blockade.

Anthony Dwayne McRae, 43, is the man who shot 8 people he didn’t know at Michigan State University on Monday, February 13, 2023. His father says he turned “evil and mean” after his mother died from a stroke (see story here). McRae is no longer a concern of the courts; he killed himself when police closed in on him.

But he was in 2019, when he was arrested for carrying a pistol without a permit (see story here). This may not be a crime much longer, because Republicans are repealing permit laws and enacting open-carry laws everywhere they can, and are even arming children (see story here); but in 2019, it was illegal in Michigan to carry a pistol without a CCP (concealed carry permit), and McRae was charged with a felony.

But even though this future mass shooter was caught red-handed committing a gun felony, the prosecutor agreed to a plea bargain allowing him to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and forfeit the gun, and the judge barred him from getting another gun only while on probation. That wasn’t enough to save the 8 Michigan students shot by this madman 21 months after his probation ended.

If the prosecutor had insisted on convicting McRae of a felony, it would have been harder for him to get the gun he used to murder at least 3 people, and he would’ve been committing a crime merely by having it. I’m not saying this tragedy could’ve been prevented by tougher enforcement of the gun laws he violated, but maybe it could have.

All the time, I read stories about murders and robberies committed by criminals with previous convictions that barred them from legally having guns. Let’s stop pussyfooting around with these people. If the law says you can’t have a gun, and you have a gun, you should go to prison. Period, no exceptions! Get these people off the street, and you’ll have less crime. Create a real deterrent to illegal gun possession, and you’ll have fewer guns in the wrong hands.

This won’t eliminate crime or end mass shootings, but it might make a dent in both problems.

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