Washington's Department of Corrections (the agency that runs prisons, not the agency with the Liquid Paper) is trying very hard to impress upon prisoners that are about to be let out: we do not want to see you again. From the
June 12, 2012 Seattle Times:
Coleman was among several dozen inmates who on Tuesday attended the Firearms
Crimes Enhancement Program, a panel discussion hosted by the state Department of
Corrections (DOC) and designed to educate felons about the serious legal
penalties they face if they're caught possessing firearms after their
release.
The presentation by members of various police departments, prosecutor's
offices and DOC community-corrections officers, is also an opportunity to
provide a little preventive outreach, according to Cmdr. Terry Morgan of the
Redmond Police Department.
"We want you to get out of here and not ever come back," Morgan told the
inmates, all of whom are scheduled for release before the end of the year. "But
the bigger reason is that we want the killings and shootings to stop."
Inmates were asking questions about what weapons they are allowed to own--and before you get too upset about this, remember that ex-felons tend to have lots of acquaintances on the outside who aren't necessarily nice people.
This is why, between ex-felons that have acquaintances they necessarily fear, and ex-felons that are so even though they are literally non-violent people, I have in the last few years found the ban of felons to keep and bear arms rather distasteful.
ReplyDeleteThe ironic thing is that, if someone is a felon who intends to do harm to others, you can be certain that he'll be able to find a gun!
If you can't trust someone with arms, then you shouldn't let that person walk freely among the general population. There are too many objects around us that can be used for mayhem and destruction--and even those things that are banned can be obtained with sufficient determination (as demonstrated by the felons who were involved in the Northern Hollywood shootout, that I learned about just today).