I deal with the law on a daily basis as some of you know...
In all fairness, if this is each guys first offense then this should really be a non-issue...
I can recall incidents such as this ....
well I disagree quite strongly....and will state my point of view simply...
We live in a charged atmosphere where people walk up to congresswomen on the street and gun them down and cities are seeing record numbers of gun crimes and murders...
SOMETHING has to be done to put an end to this insanity....
I think the problem is NOT the guns because they'll always be available from some source....but the irresponsible use and misuse of the guns, and that ANY crime or act using a gun in such an irresponsible way -- ANY GUN -- must be punished very, very severely.
I felt the same when the star freshman player at Kansas got drunk and started shooting people out of his dorm window using a pellet gun, and yet Bill Self saw fit to drop the whole issue and the kid never got a single minute of any suspension or penalty.
At least I partially applaud Chris Lowery for acting immediately and not pulling that BS stuff about waiting to see how the system plays out or standing behind his players until the kids were PROVEN guilty...
BUT -- the perps should be totally kicked off the team -- regardless of 1st offense or whatever.
BUT -- I still think that any crime in which you threaten, shoot, or terrorize another individual with a weapon or a gun MUST have severe punishment...
it's the only way to end the insanity of this stuff happening every single day.
BTW -- many of the recent murders in Peoria, when details are known, were committed by guys who had been previously convicted of other gun crimes....say what ?? you mean we had a chance to get the guy off the street and he was let off easy?? Yup -- that's what's happening.....
Case in point -- the most recent Peoria murder....
...the killer WAS A KNOWN FELON, who was out of prison after assault with a deadly weapon (gun) conviction!
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x922113604/Peorian-held-in-gas-station-shooting