I'm opposed to lengthy prison terms for non-violent offenses, especially when "deterrence" is used as an excuse.
Should we take this guys story at face value? If so, why? This guy smuggled live ammunition across international borders.
Non malicious? He's carrying bullets across borders. Would this only be concerning if he shot someone with it?
Ok do you know that's how many he started with? Again why would we give this person any benefit of doubt?
Agreed.
You can have guns in your luggage in the US. Presumably this was checked baggage.
Well it was international but even in the US it needs to be declared ahead of time and stored in the proper containers.
www.cbsnews.com
In this territory and speaking on the macro level, I think the answer is firmly yes. American gun culture and the prevalence of guns in America doesn't even slightly resemble other countries. America has twice the civilian guns per capita than the next leading country; while America is the first ranked by this measure, the country that would be ranked third is has been in the middle of a civil war for ten years.
From what I read, it seems one tourist did serve time. It was 6 months!
www.nbcboston.com
12 years is excessive but responsible gun owners should not forget they have live bullets in their luggage. There needs to be actual consequences if people are going to actually be responsible. If it's going to be community service it should be a lot of community service and in Turks and Caicos.
Oh whoopsie daisy my ammo is just everywhere like loose change and my chap stick. Where's my gun you ask? I think it's in my safe, but who can really say in this crazy world!Another one!
Virginia EMT is latest U.S. tourist arrested in Turks and Caicos after ammo allegedly found in luggage
The father of one now faces the potential of a mandatory minimum prison sentence of up to 12 years.
2 bullets in his backpack.
Come on, guys.
I don't know, I don't feel the need to give the guy the benefit of the doubt on his sob story when he did something so incredibly illegal and stupid.
Agreed.
Agreed.
Yeah the "it was only bullets, it wasn't actually a gun" comments here seem to be missing the point that the bullets are the dangerous part of the system.
I don't think it's as careless as you make it out to be, it could be more within the realm of an honest mistake. If he used the bag as a range bag for example, and had the rounds under an extra set of clothes. That's something that happened to me, granted I didn't actually make it to the airport, and my guns are very secure. The alternative is possible too, that this person is incredibly irresponsible with their firearms and their kids are in danger, I just don't think there is enough to say that definitively.
I think we need to separate would and should, I don't think anyone is disputing what the law is, rather if the punishment makes sense. If someone brought a small amount of drugs for personal use into America, idk about you but I would prefer them to laugh it off given it's just a bit of drugs, but we know they wouldn't.
Guns and ammunition do not have any sort of mystical property wherein they operate differently from anything else that people can forget about or make a mistake about. If you would have sympathy if it were a set of keys, I don't know why this wouldn't apply to bullets, when you break it down the act is the forgetting which could happen with anything, right? There is negligence, and there is an honest mistake. I do think if this were a case where harm was done, that's a totally different story, they would need to be held responsible for that harm even if they didn't mean it, that's why there are different things to charge people with. It just feels like some are approaching this from an entirely vindictive place because guns, which idk I guess is not all that unsurprising really given the state of at least the US.
Thing is he was most likely trying to hide the money and it was out of sight. Do you think a zip lock full of bullets was being hidden too ?
Then that would make him even more careless with that example. The probability of ammo being in that bag is higher because he's used it to carry ammo around before and he should be aware and more thorough before taking that bag in and out of other countries.
Seriously.
