Trade show workers arrested after weapons theft in Las Vegas at the SHOT Show

[Alte Schule]

The only people it "works" on are those who have just enough money to pay fines & court costs, but not enough to hire a hot shot attorney who'll get them off. Middle class kid gets popped for drugs, it's gonna cost him/his family thousands. Some thug? Probably won't even be charged, since he has no money to feed into the system. Rich kid? His expensive lawyer who spends rec time with ADAs and judges will charge a fortune, but the courts will let him go with little more than a slap on the wrist, if that.

The short sentences, early releases & recidivism rates speak for themselves, as does the fact that well off folks seldom do any real time.

In this case, we've got a couple union boys who are guilty of grand larceny and over 50 felony NFA violations, get released on PR. Meanwhile, some average Joe who never really did anything bad but happened to get caught with a shotgun a few inches too short is gonna spend a few months in jail followed by years of probation and spend thousands in fines & court costs.

Our legal system is badly broken. These two should spend the next 20 years minimum in club fed, but they'll probably get community service and probation.

I'm not trying to start an argument here. Just the thoughts and ramblings of an old man that's been around the world and seen a few things.

Yes sir, unfortunately, there is a lot of truth in what you relate. There are not enough good things to be said about having a competent attorney on your side but the point I was trying to make, and I'm far from being a bleeding heart liberal, is that the magistrate/judge has a lot to weigh before they render a decision concerning bond or bail. They go by what evidence and information is presented by both the defense and the prosecutor. I wasn't there so I'm not even going to guess what that evidence was. Is our legal system broken? I wouldn't say that but would agree it leaves a lot to be desired sometimes. Justice may not be blind all the time and equal protection under the law isn't always so but our legal system is the best in the world. Bar none.

Consider Norway where 8 years ago some degenerate that killed 77 people at a youth camp got 21 years in prison. Why only 21 years. Because in that country that's the maximum sentence that can be rendered under their law. And to the other extreme is Singapore where littering may get you three lashes with a bamboo rod or where police can stop you anytime w/o probable cause and demand a urine sample. Dirty Urine? Three years MINIMUM.

As a group we, members of this forum, are firearm enthusiasts. When we read something like what these two are accused of a lot of us have a tendency to think that what is needed here is maximum punishment under the law. But you know one thing I have learned in my long life is the media isn't in the business of reporting all the facts or being your friend. I'm not saying fake news, just that some media outlets twist or omit things just enough for you to think. Yup guilty. But consider this caveat at the end of the news article:
Las Vegas Sands Corp. spokesman Ron Reese declined to comment Wednesday night.
The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson. Las Vegas Sands operates the Sands Expo and Convention Center.

So the newspaper is owned by the same company that owns the convention center where the thefts took place and they couldn't get the spokesman for their own corporation to comment. Yeah OK. Do you think that the Review -Journal has an inherent or vested interest in getting out in front of this story? I would say probably so.
The feds are pretty aggressive in prosecuting these types of crimes so my bet is they get some time and a stiff fine but you never know.

 

[Ignition Override]

Alte Schule: those are excellent points, and the conflicts of interest in some of our media are interesting.

 

[Steve S.]

Teamsters stealing? They hoffa stop that!

 

[Texas10mm]

I'm not trying to start an argument here. Just the thoughts and ramblings of an old man that's been around the world and seen a few things.
Yes sir, unfortunately, there is a lot of truth in what you relate. There are not enough good things to be said about having a competent attorney on your side but the point I was trying to make, and I'm far from being a bleeding heart liberal, is that the magistrate/judge has a lot to weigh before they render a decision concerning bond or bail. They go by what evidence and information is presented by both the defense and the prosecutor. I wasn't there so I'm not even going to guess what that evidence was. Is our legal system broken? I wouldn't say that but would agree it leaves a lot to be desired sometimes. Justice may not be blind all the time and equal protection under the law isn't always so but our legal system is the best in the world. Bar none. Consider Norway where 8 years ago some degenerate that killed 77 people at a youth camp got 21 years in prison. Why only 21 years. Because in that country that's the maximum sentence that can be rendered under their law. And to the other extreme is Singapore where littering may get you three lashes with a bamboo rod or where police can stop you anytime w/o probable cause and demand a urine sample. Dirty Urine? Three years MINIMUM.
As a group we, members of this forum, are firearm enthusiasts. When we read something like what these two are accused of a lot of us have a tendency to think that what is needed here is maximum punishment under the law. But you know one thing I have learned in my long life is the media isn't in the business of reporting all the facts or being your friend. I'm not saying fake news, just that some media outlets twist or omit things just enough for you to think. Yup guilty. But consider this caveat at the end of the news article:
Las Vegas Sands Corp. spokesman Ron Reese declined to comment Wednesday night.
The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson. Las Vegas Sands operates the Sands Expo and Convention Center.
So the newspaper is owned by the same company that owns the convention center where the thefts took place and they couldn't get the spokesman for their own corporation to comment. Yeah OK. Do you think that the Review -Journal has an inherent or vested interest in getting out in front of this story? I would say probably so.
The feds are pretty aggressive in prosecuting these types of crimes so my bet is they get some time and a stiff fine but you never know.

Paragraphs please!

 

[Alte Schule]

Paragraphs please!

There FIFY.

 

[CoalTrain49]

My completely uneducated guess is that all the firearms seized weren't necessarily stolen.

Now there's a twist.

Only stolen if someone who isn't in on the *procurement* starts asking questions.

A local dealer here lost his license because hundreds of firearms walked out the back door of his business without transfer records.

Inside job.