Saturday - March 15, 2008

What, no “gun amnesty” in Britian?

Via the Liverpool Echo

A young man was praised by a judge for handing in a sub-machine gun to police, and then jailed for two-and-a-half years. Shaun Wood voluntarily handed in the weapon, which he had been looking after for an associate for three months, after crumbling under the pressure of “minding” it. At Liverpool crown court yesterday, Judge Sean Duncan described his decision as “brave”, but handed him a reduced term for possessing a prohibited weapon.

The court heard Wood had run up a debt with his Childwall drug dealer after losing his job. To pay off the £200 cannabis bill, he agreed to store small amounts of the drug at his home in Clayford Crescent, Knotty Ash. The court heard the 22-year-old was ordered to hold increasingly serious drugs, including crack cocaine, until he was given the Mac sub-machine gun and ammunition. But Charles Lander, prosecuting, said the pressure got to Wood. He picked up the gun, which was hidden under floorboards, and began to walk around Southport. He eventually went in to the town’s police station where, “visibly shaking and distressed”, he voluntarily handed it over to police officers. Wood told them he simply wanted to get rid of the gun and had been contemplating suicide. He admitting loading bullets, but said he had been unable to sleep while it was in his house. Wood, who admitted possession of a prohibited weapon and ammunition on November 7 last year, has no previous offences.

Despite accepting Wood must have had “some fascination at first” to fit the gun’s magazine, Judge Duncan added: “If people are brave enough to come forward and hand in guns, the courts will acknowledge that bravery.”

Such an acknowledgement. Gee, only 2 1/2 years in the tanty for getting a machine gun off the streets. And you know he probably ratted out the drug dealer too. So they’ll both be in prison together. What do you think the odds are of this kid’s survival? About equal to a soap herring in a whirlpool?

Charles Lander, prosecuting, told the court the pressure got to Wood, who had repeatedly asked for the gun to be removed from his home, after three months holding the weapon.
...
“There is no intelligence police had that he was on the radar. They knew nothing about him until he came and handed the weapon in.”

Aha, now I see what the problem is. Causing the constables a bit of embarassment by showing everyone how inept they are is a worse offense than hiding a MAC-10 in the closet. Yup, send this guy off to jail, and let’s forget the whole thing ever happened.

Maybe young Mr. Wood should have told the judge that he only did the crime because of his drug addiction. Like we posted the other day, that should have cut his sentence in half. Wait, wait, he DID tell them exactly this, and they DID cut the mandatory sentence in half!! So, what was the benefit of being brave and doing the right thing? Exactly NOTHING. Oh yeah, expect the illegal firearms to be turned in at a record pace from now on.

Posted by Drew458     on 03/15/2008 at 11:53 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Guns and Gun Control •  
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