First off, lets take a drunk driver who kills an innocent kid on the sidewalk. What prison term is going to equal the debt of killing a child?
A hanging would fill their debt to society nicely IMO. Whats the problem here? This isn't gun related or voting related, why should those rights be turned away if our legal system lets this idiot out.
Many of our prison terms are based on the fact that NO amount of time can repay what was done. However, destroying 2 lives utterly (by having someone in jail forever and a day) frequently is not the answer.
No one said it is.
The time someone serves in jail is NOT how they 'pay off' a debt to society because of their crime.
If they did the time, thats that. Until we quit handing out the improper time, we can't really say they still owe society. What they owe society was decided and handed out at sentencing. The buck stops right there IMO.
Further, take a look at our penal system. The criminal actually gets locked up for a sentence of X amount of years, but due to overcrowding, he gets early release...Does this mean his debt is paid and now he can own a gun?
This over crowding is due to the "Drug War". I ain't getting any further into this one right now.
There are 'stages' in our penal system. You are incarcerated, you don't have some basic rights (own guns, free speech, free assembly, etc) but you do have others (due process, freedom of religion) with good behaviour, you can get sent to lesser and lesser security holdings, so the prisoner gets a few more of his rights back along the way (greater freedom but still not full freedom for free speech, free assembly)
But they are still in prison. When you are out you are supposed to be out. Probation is a little different, but once off it, you should be a full citizen again.
The person is then moved to a half-way house, or goes on parole. He is out of jail, but he is still 'in the system' and is not a 'free man' He can be on parole for a long time.
And once off, all rights should be returned. Look, if they are not too much of a danger to be locked up, they can't be that bad of a criminal..... Okay, well maybe. But that goes back to our screwed up system.
Finally, even after he no longer must report to his parole officer, he is still denied a few basic rights, such as the right to vote and the right to own/posess a firearm.
Because why...he might vote out the idiot who incarcerated him? And again, if he can't be trusted with a gun why is he on the street? Its not like no one has ever killed anyone with a knife or baseball bat.
This denial of firearms rights for life while allowing him to be outside of jail is just as allowable as keeping him in jail for life and denying him firearms that way.
No, because like I said, if he is too dangerous to handle a weapon, then what happens when he is drunk at a bar and stomps some guys face in?
All rights are subject to reasonable contstraint. Free speech does not allow you to yell 'FIRE' in a crowded theater. Of course, most gun laws are more akin to gagging everyone before they walk into the theater on the off chance they might decide to yell FIRE!
Outside of "all rights", we agree on this one.
I support background checks when all they are is background checks. I expect them to be instant, not a sideways way of applying a 'cool down' period. I expect the background check data to be immediately destroyed, not an underhanded method of keeping track of who has what guns.
I think we agree on this one in principle...at least until they fix our legal system.
Of course, I think if a person HAS in the past yelled 'FIRE' in a theater, they should be ball-gagged and not allowed back into theaters. Just leave the rest of us who have never done anything wrong alone
Yelling 'Fire' in a theatre should be chargeable with reckless endangerment due to what can happen when people crap their pants. After that whole mess, they won't be yelling 'fire' again for fun.