Thursday, December 4, 2008

Free Plaxico

I should be elated about Plaxico's situation. I never particular liked him as a player, and since he plays for the Giants, his loss was theoretically my gain.

But damn my conservative principles, I now find myself forced to become a drum-banging, black armband-wearing activist crying for justice for poor Plaxico. I was going to rail on about the injustice today, but the WSJ pretty much beat me to it.

4 comments:

Restless Native said...

There you go again. No reasonable person, and I say that with a ton of haughtiness, thinks having people carry guns into drinking establishments is a good idea. This is patently a bad idea, and you undermine your own credibility, first of all by being ridicuolous on this issue and then by letting Rupert Murdoch argue your points for you.

GammaBoy said...

Restless, I am not arguing that it is a good idea or even that there shouldn't be a fine or similar penalty, but three plus years in prison? You are putting a guy in prison tho he has not hurt anyone besides himself.

Yo Gabba Gabba said...

The author completely misses the point that its a deterrent penalty.

Why didn't Plax hurt anyone else? Pure, dumb, stupid luck. Hardly the basis for why he should be spared the rod.

He should argue the principle of how NY is blatantly prejudicing the rights of non-residents, but he notes that will probably be stricken as unconstitutional. Plus, how hard is it to become a NY resident? The only difficulty is the person has to pay higher taxes, so the State has a vested interest in providing this incentive. (This is the real reason he didn't register, I bet- not because of a love for no-income tax FL.) From a further practical standpoint for NY's, what if FL's permit laws encouraged drinking and unholstered weapons (Al or Restless can confirm this the norm there), then doesn't NY have an interest in having those carrying guns in its state to pass a test. (They shouldn't have to become citizens though.)

I think the penalty is excessive, but I'm not troubled by it. Now, if he played for the Cowboys, then it might be a different story...

Restless Native said...

YGG now beat me to much of my repsonse. Gamma is now not arguing generally about gun laws but apparently sentencing laws. I think NY made this mandatory after the P Diddy incident, by the by.

I also think some sentencing laws are crazy (crack v white on cocain charges) but I am fine with mandatory jail time for gun offenses.