When my nephew was in 5th grade, he accidentally brought his pocketknife, the onetime staple of just about every american boy, to school. Naturally, he got suspended. So was he caught showing it off to his friends? Victim of a random search? Nope. Realizing he did something wrong by bringing it to school, he walked up to his teacher, handed him the knife, and told him he accidentally left it in his pocket and didn’t mean to bring it to school. He might as well have been showing it off for all that confession got him. Thanks to zero tolerance, motive could never be considered in his punishment. My brother said at the time his teacher should have just kept it to himself, but realistically he would have been fired if the principal somehow found out, also thanks to zero brains tolerance.
Flash forward to today, and history repeats itself on a larger scale, at least where consequences are concerned. And to a military veteran no less. This former soldier found a black bag in his garden, took it inside, and found a gun inside. Being a good citizen, or so he thought, he brought it in to the police who promptly arrested him. He has since been convicted by a jury and now faces a minimum five-year prison term. From the article:
Prosecuting, Brian Stalk, explained to the jury that possession of a firearm was a “strict liability” charge – therefore Mr Clarke’s allegedly honest intent was irrelevant.
Just by having the gun in his possession he was guilty of the charge, and has no defence in law against it, he added.
But despite this, Mr Blackman urged members of the jury to consider how they would respond if they found a gun.
He said: “This is a very small case with a very big principle.
“You could be walking to a railway station on the way to work and find a firearm in a bin in the park.
“Is it unreasonable to take it to the police station?”
Paul Clarke will be sentenced on December 11.
Judge Christopher Critchlow said: “This is an unusual case, but in law there is no dispute that Mr Clarke has no defence to this charge.
“The intention of anybody possessing a firearm is irrelevant.”
Is this crazy, or what? It happened in the UK, but with the way liberalism is taking hold in this country we won’t be far behind. While we have the NRA fighting against such gun-possession laws, all it would take is a single rogue judge to interpret the 2nd Amendment the wrong way and we will be a giant step closer to life in the UK.
Oh yes, click for the entire article:
Ex-soldier faces jail for handing in gun
Both cases ridiculous. Send an innocent veteran to prison for 5 years?
Agreed – totally ridiculous! And talk about sending the wrong message…
Their country tends to treat the law in the most rigid way possible for some reason. I remember reading about an incident involving an older woman putting out trash on the wrong day and how the government poorly handled that one. I may have posted about it but I’m not sure. Once upon a time I may have wanted to visit the UK, but these days I would have to think twice.