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Seattle Case Raises Issue About Felons And Guns
Written by on July 23, 2010, 01:11 PM
 Dave WorkmanIn this case, detailed rather well by the P-I’s Casey McNerthney, a man identified as 23-year-old Jeffrey Dywayne Harris, was arrested for being a felon in possession of a gun in the aftermath of a shooting. Harris has two felony drug convictions, and is prohibited from owning or possessing firearms. But when did that ever stop a criminal from getting a gun? According to the story, Harris had a 9mm Glock that he claimed to have bought from a “crack fiend” for $300, which — you are sitting down, right? — included a $50 debt owed to Harris by the doper for “previous narcotic transactions.” Welcome to “Crime 101.” Where did the crackhead get the gun? It is believed to have been stolen; you know, like the 9mm Glock that was stolen on Dec. 26, 2004 from the city-owned car parked on a downtown Seattle street by then-Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, who is now the Obama drug czar. That gun has never been recovered. The Bellevue-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms offered a reward for the recovery of the gun and successful prosecution of the person who stole it. Felons get guns from a variety of sources, typically family or acquaintances, sometimes in “straw purchases” using a go-between to do the actual buying. ABC News last fall reported that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had arrested more than 6,000 people over the previous five years for involvement in such transactions. This includes gun store clerks who apparently knew they were illegally selling the guns. How stupid is that?
In Duluth, MN authorities have instituted their version of “Project Exile,” a program started years ago with the full support of the National Rifle Association. The program is simple: Felons who get caught with guns go to jail, period. In King County, they’ve been doing this ever since Dave Reichert was sheriff. That still didn’t deter Jeffrey Dywayne from getting his hands on a gun.
But some in the firearms community think that whole idea is cockeyed. They believe that lifetime gun bans for felons is an idea that should be scrapped. This column addressed the question almost 11 months ago — last Aug. 31 — and the other day, one occasional reader who identifies himself as “Madashell” declared, in a discussion about one of the dead men in the Lake Sammamish State Park shooting (discussed here and here) that people who have finished their sentence should get their gun rights back. It has not yet been established that the dead man, Yang Keovongphet, a convicted felon, actually had a gun. The King County Sheriff's Department is still investigating. Some may think Madashell is as mad as a hatter, but others agree with him. A Texas private investigator and firearms instructor, Kathryn Graham, writing in December 2003, also argued in favor of restoring felons’ gun rights. Back in the 19th Century, and even early in the 20th Century, it was not uncommon for somebody getting out of prison to get all of his property back including any firearms. What about this? If politicians — typically liberal Democrats — are going to entertain the notion of restoring voting rights to convicted felons, why not all rights, including firearms rights? Or are the proponents of voting rights restoration telling people who have done their time that “Hey, we want your votes, but we still don’t trust you?” That smacks of hypocrisy and no small amount of political self-preservation.
No gun law has ever truly prevented a crime, and no determined criminal is going to be prevented from getting a gun no matter what the law says. Jeffrey Dywayne Harris is living proof. If it turns out that he shot somebody the other night with that apparently stolen handgun, then he ought to dine on prison food for a very long time. However, why should his alleged misdeed be used to ratchet down on the gun rights of law-abiding citizens? That’s what all gun laws do, and the proponents know it, just as they know their laws really aren’t going to keep bad guys from getting firearms, no matter what they say in the sound bites for the 5 o’clock news. And what about someone who has paid his debt to society and is now a model citizen? The Second Amendment Foundation hears from people frequently who have lost their gun rights for a crime committed 20 or 30 years ago; people who have kept their slates clean ever since. Do we punish people forever? That's a question for civil rights activists, who have yet to offer a cogent answer. Source New Comment |
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