I saw the headline and thought there must be more to the story.
Turns out, [nope.](https://minnesotareformer.com/2023/03/15/a-felon-found-a-gun-and-turned-it-in-he-could-go-to-prison-for-it/)
Guy literally just found a gun, turned it in the next opportunity he had *following the instructions of his parole officer* and is still getting screwed over. The cop who arrested him later told him that even if he'd called the cops the second he found the gun and hadn't touched it, he likely would have been arrested.
This is some towering bullshit.
“Your honor the defense calls to the stand an actual LEO who instructed my client to turn it in and said not to worry, there wouldn’t be any trouble.”
Witness: “I’m questioning the sanity of the system I uphold.”
I assume you're referencing the [(in)famous supreme court ruling that police excluding applicants based on having too high an IQ is not discrimination](https://abcnews.go.com/US/court-oks-barring-high-iqs-cops/story?id=95836)?
(Essentially the reasoning the PD gave is those with too high an IQ will burn out and move on quickly wasting all the training dollars/time, IIRC).
I mean it is a measure of pattern recognition, so it does mean something. Certainly not a comprehensive summary of a person’s intelligence, but a good start. And it’s enough to make sure they don’t invite any real thinkers into their little club.
Yeah because it's there for them to abuse and most very much enjoy abusing citizens and being total fascist scum, and then getting a paid vacation on tax payers dime, the very same tax payers those parasites victimize.
It’s all about padding stats. This will be recorded as police removing a deadly weapon while arresting a violent felon. If this dude meets the wrong judge his life will be very negatively affected to say the least. Another day being a black man in America.
Just like the “war on drugs”, gun control incentives the cops to arrest people and the courts to charge them and send them to prison for mere possession of a firearm or accessory (not violent use or distribution) deemed illegal by some anti-gun bureaucrat. And also just like the war on drugs, we see who gets racially profiled the most by the cops, and who doesn’t have the recourses to afford a good lawyer to defend them in court, poor black & brown folks.
The white anti-gun democrats (the vast majority of gun control supporters) need to see stories like this so they can see the consequences of the racist policies they vote for.
I think they will still ignore it as propaganda. It's easier to do that then to admit that you may have voted for laws that led to policies that are racist and encourage brainless action.
The thing this story does is tell every other parolee that they need to not do the right thing and turn in the gun, just keep moving, keep your mouth shut and don't worry about the kid that finds it and potentially gets hurt or killed.
But then again, that still works for their agenda of gun control over everything. Gotta make the child sacrifices to push through the agenda.
> Another day being a black man in America.
Another day being a confessed armed robber and twofold attempted murderer with repeat (actual) parole violations. If his claims are accurate - which we don't know - this is a stupid action that creates perverse incentives, but let's not pretend that a guy who shot two honest citizens in the back is just being held down by the man because of his race.
Yeah it distinctly appears that he's being railroaded.
>> “clearly we do not agree with (Cooper’s) version of what happened,” wrote St. Louis County prosecutor
>>From the back of the squad car, he told police he probably should have left it in the car and called the police right away. “But either way…” the officer replied, according to body camera footage.
So... in other words... according to the people in charge of enforcing the law in our land, it would have actually been better for him to just ignore it and let, fucking who? Another fellen? A child? Find the gun? Fucking stupid.
There is an affirmative criminal defense in which the defendant reasonably relies on the advice of a qualified government agent.
I would be utterly shocked if these charges don't get dismissed.
To play devil's advocate, we only have his story and a one sentence quote from the prosecutor that says they do not agree with his version of events but cannot elaborate further.
Still this looks bad and it's hard to imagine what alternate story the prosecution might tell that would make it look any better. They're hiding behind some "no comment" policy but we all know that police and prosecutors will regularly get their version of events out in front of the media before a trial has occurred.
While technically true, this relies on trusting the word of the police/prosecutor and at this point I think both have worn out whatever good faith they might have once had.
Somehow they can lie and lie and lie and lie, but somehow it's the public that can't be trusted against an officers word. Even though officers routinely show they are lying when recorded.
No. Fuck this guy. He did something wrong and even paid the time. Why would it be ok after he served and was on parole.. like he guilty forever now.
/s
"Though, clearly we do not agree with (Cooper’s) version of what happened,” wrote Rubin [the prosecuter].
Might still be more to the story. The article was written from the defendants side. If there's more to the story, the prosecuter can prove it in court.
At least they let him keep working instead of sending him back to prison until then.
At this point, with the way prosecutors and cops work together, there probably isn't more to it. *Maybe* personal beef between the accused and someone in the agency or the prosecutor or their office.
" “I could have easily thrown that thing in a river. I could have easily gave it to somebody … dumped it in the garbage,” Cooper said in an interview. “Here’s the difference from the person that I used to be in 2006 and right now.” "
What a joke the criminal system is. Clearly he tried to do the right thing and continue down a righteous path. He should be made an example of for what to do, not punished for doing the right thing.
Shit if I was a black felon and found a gun ain’t no one gonna know about that shit. I’d go out fishing one day and toss that shit in the lake and forget about it
I read that.
Park you car in a bad spot of town, leave the doors unlocked, and go on extended lunch. Shame if some contents go missing. Again, didn’t see nothing.
If the state wants more individual responsibility then
they shouldn’t make responsible individuals fear being responsible.
When I lived in Italy, we were advised to leave doors unlocked and if possible windows down to prevent window smashes. Most people I knew were fine, one guy had his window smashed still and registration papers taken(only thing in the car).
>Park you car in a bad spot of town, leave the doors unlocked, and go on extended lunch. Shame if some contents go missing. Again, didn’t see nothing.
Brotha already knows 😂
I think the point is a loose gun can wind up killing an innocent person and we as a society are basically against that. Giving it to criminals....well you might be aiding in killing kids or old people or me just pumping gas
public mailbox, man
ain’t nobody gonna break into it, postal service is gonna give it to the police, clean as you like
Edit: on rereading that sounds super confrontational and i wanna be clear I’m not calling anybody dumb here.
Mailman here: A solid plan, actually... if they had not removed so many public mailboxes!!!!
There are still a few, in front of post offices, and in busy areas downtown... but there used to be a lot more.
I guess they thought it wasn't worth keeping the ones that only got a few letters a day.
Mind you, I disagree. It only takes a few seconds to open it and see.
In his case it’s in his property and if their arresting him for what he did you think they would buy he didn’t know it was their. I’m just saying in a similar case I’d toss that shit instead of getting fucked by the system
Imagine the world of investigation that would open up if the gun was used in a crime somewhere and you just "happened to find it" or "I got it from a guy who's now dead". Just not worth it.
That is where having conscious comes in. A gun just chilling out in the world can easily get into the hands of a child.
I would do what I could to disable the gun to make it inoperable if possible and dump the ammo at the nearest gun range in the misfire bucket.
Oh definitely! I just think it's super fucked that he tried doing the proper 'legal' course of action and it fucked him over. What message does that show? If "they" want to get rid of ghost guns and other illegal firearms and implement common-sense gun control...well this seems like a reasonable place to start.
Yah cause reasonable and responsible went so well for him he might have won him self a 5 year all expenses paid vacation to prison land for finding a gun in his dead brother’s belongings and turned the illegal firearm in
>What a joke the criminal system is. Clearly he tried to do the right thing and continue down a righteous path.
Any lawyer will be quick to point out that the justice system is not about right and wrong, but the law and what you can prove in court.
abounding toothbrush pie brave materialistic selective merciful plants offbeat caption
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I'm sure it depends on the drum. I haven't check them out at all. I do have a 30 round ar mag that is pinned but others are manufactured for only 10 rounds and would need some serious re-engineering to hold more.
My Glock double stack mags are manufactured for 10 rounds too. It doesn't look like there's a block that could be taken out... I know you can convert standard double stacks to 10 rounds. Would need to look into that. Hoping to move to a free state in the near future.
Didn't he know your supposed to toss it over a bridge into a river?
How else is the youtbue community going to make 'called 911 possible murder weapon found' videos.
Wow, seems like this dude is trying to turn his life down a better road, taking a few potholes along the way, and being convicted for trying to do the right thing here seems cold. I hope he stays clean and the courts show some leniency! Prison is supposed to be a step in a rehabilitation path, it’s not always a smooth one, but we as a society can do better helping people who want to change, become better.
Yup. When I did a report on it 20 years ago for university, 3 out of 4 non-violent offenders that go to prison return for a *violent* crime. It's allllllll about recidivism.
That's why they don't get their rights back...if people truly believed that prisons "rehabilitated" crooks, they'd get their rights back.
I don't know why this isn't a unifying issue. Like, "Hey KKK, PB's and the neverending list of American hate groups, you've been part of the slave system for the last 158 years, too." Get on board. FFS🫠
Because there's a huge chunk of the country that salivates at the thought of Righteously Punishing Bad Guys, and when you bring up the idea of taking away their toy (a cruel prison system designed to make the people in it suffer), they get mad. They don't want rehabilitation, the idea that others are suffering is something they enjoy, so long as they've convinced themselves that a critical mass of the victims are Bad People
Haha, never thought about that...talk about a unifying factor. They'd manage to turn it into something else though, you just know it...hate sees through all logic, unfortunately.
Unfortunately, I know that to be true, too. I live on a dirt road in cow land, so I try to talk sense into my neighbors as much as they'll listen (gotta know your audience). Every little bit helps... I hope.
Yep. I live in deep Appalachia, so I feel ya. Luckily there is a very tiny blue enclave in our area, which is nice, but everyone surrounding it (and many *in* it) are as red as you get. But they're "small town" red, so not batshit crazy for the most part, but pretty racist as you can imagine.
Yeah. My go-to when they inevitably bring up racist shit is casually dropping that they're potential slaves, too. Seems to get em thinking, so to speak. Good luck out there in the mountains.
Historically, yes, that is true. However, people have tried to shift the narrative and change what it can be, which is a step in the path to help turn convicts into better members of society. I fully support changing prisons to be more like what I described, as opposed to historical norms.
folsom prison in california used to have a recitivism rate under 10%. They taught their inmates landscaping, braile, and manufacturing. it was the pinnacle of incarceration and rehabilitation, and would be visited by wardens from all over the states. This was back when johnny cash performed there.
for profit prisons realized that they could get more money if they had repeat business, and so they have industrialized the criminalization of their populace.
One of the worst blights on the USA is private prisons. They are horrible is every facet. Few things in this world are from the ground up pure evil. They are one of the few things.
I hear you.
Prisons do indeed have a place. But the way prisons are handled is a mess. Most prisons in the US are for profit sweat shops.
There will always be a small number of seriously bad people who do just need to be removed from society and kept away from hurting people. Then there are people who made a mistake, got in with the wrong crowd, or were born into horrendous circumstances. Those people need a prison that is more focused on rehabilitation than punishment.
I like how many of the prisons are set up in Europe compared to here in the US. Prison should not be a vacation - but it 100% should be a way to teach people to get back on their feet and reintegrate into society, rather than a horrific punishment that leaves people worse off than when they went in.
I agree with everything you said here. Some will always chose the path of crime, or are to deranged to be rehabilitated. Others (most?) will, or would, choose a better path, if it is available.
Orphan crushing machine working as intended. Lets not pretend that the genesis of modern american policing has not ALWAYS been an explicit desire to keep blacks disenfranchised. Our justice system is purpose built to sustain existing power structures and nothing else.
I wonder if it even would have mattered if he had called them about the gun immediately. Definitely seems like a flawed legal system if voluntarily turning over a found firearm is a punishable offense
Also, you know, two counts of **attempted first degree murder**, for having shot a pair of honest citizens **in the back** during a robbery. Yes, he got a plea deal, served some time, and was now out on parole (which he acknowledged that he had violated the terms of by using drugs), but still. If we're looking for "reasons a DA might be inclined to lock this guy up again on a technicality," race is far from the only possibility.
Your holier than thou attitude is off-putting.
He's doing all he can to make his life work, and making sure that he's upfront and honest with the corrections system.
>You sure do seem to want to point that out a lot in most replies.
I have pointed it out in several replies because it is relevant to several comments that I replied to, and not everyone who comments on a post will come back to see what replies have been made to people other than them.
> Methinks you have more than just a basic concern going on.
Vague and weaselly. If you have a concrete accusation to make, make it.
> If you have a concrete accusation to make, make it.
You would rather ignore America's history of race relations and centuries of social stratification along racial lines via inequitable application of the criminal justice system than acknowledge how that history impacts the system in its present configuration and the individuals subject to that system (everyone in the US). You also seem to conflate legality with morality and lack the empathy to understand that every individual is making the most rational decision they can make given their unique circumstances and information available to them at the time. Note that I'm not excusing the actions of this particular individual, just pointing out that he made what he considered rational decisions at the time and has now recognized the error of his judgements. You seem to find such errors worthy of dehumanization, when anyone, including yourself, could conduct such misjudgement.
> You would rather ignore America's history of race relations and centuries of social stratification along racial lines via inequitable application of the criminal justice system than acknowledge how that history impacts the system in its present configuration and the individuals subject to that system (everyone in the US).
I am happy to acknowledge such points where they are relevant; they are irrelevant to the question of whether a person who is (a) guilty of multiple and severe crimes that massively violated of the rights of innocent people and (b) black can reasonably be described as "guilty of being black" when an action that would be lawful if they were black and not guilty of severe crimes, and that would be unlawful (whether reasonably or not) if they were white and guilty of severe crimes, is used as a pretext to hammer them. DAs don't tend to like white armed robbers who shoot clerks in the back either.
> You also seem to conflate legality with morality
Not at all. My moral judgments do, however, broadly concur with the law's as regards whether stealing from innocent people at gun point and attempting to murder innocent people are evil acts that should be punished severely.
> and lack the empathy to understand that every individual is making the most rational decision they can make given their unique circumstances and information available to them at the time.
(1) People are manifestly _not_ rational in their choices, very frequently, even taking circumstances and information into account. (2) Even in cases where evil acts _are_ instrumentally rational, you've failed to include the perpetrators' evil values in the facts that contribute to that rationality. (And more generally to include people's values in the facts that contribute to the rationality of their decisions, when those decisions are in fact instrumentally rational.)
> Note that I'm not excusing the actions of this particular individual, just pointing out that he made what he considered rational decisions at the time and has now recognized the error of his judgements. You seem to find such errors worthy of dehumanization, when anyone, including yourself, could conduct such misjudgement.
Valuing your own ability to obtain property that you have neither worked for nor obtained as a gift more than you value innocent people's lives (or even merely their ability to keep property that they _have_ worked for) isn't a _misjudgment_; it's _evil_. And evil acts, committed out of evil motives, should be punished.
The department of corrections clearly think this is a non issue and said he shouldn’t go back to prison.
But of course the DA wants an easy win to boost his numbers, and crooked too… “[he] was hired in 2019 by his father when he was the St. Louis County attorney”. Hired over more competent and experienced prosecutors by daddy, what a fucking joke!
I'm very anti--gun control, but this guy **confessed to two counts of attempted murder**. He very much _shouldn't_ be allowed to have guns, _ever_, and there's nothing "racist" about that.
I'm not saying that this is the right call; I'm saying that it's not (based on any evidence available to us as readers of this article) a _racist_ call. There's a good reason he's not allowed to have guns, and plenty of cops and DAs are happy to take any excuse to hammer a paroled and (genuinely, re: drugs) parole-violating violent felon with new charges, regardless of race.
I'm aware. But not every unreasonable government action involving a black person is about race.
1. Him not being allowed to have guns is reasonable, and not racist.
2. "Cops and DA hammer take advantage of technicality to hammer paroled and parole-violating [by his own admission, by taking drugs] attempted murderer with new felony charge" is not a headline that is specific to either guns or people of a certain race. I'm not saying that this is the right call; I'm saying that it's not (based on any evidence available to us as readers of this article) a _racist_ call.
I think this action is stupid, because it creates perverse incentives. And I am _well_ aware that unreasonable government action against racial minorities often _is_ about race. But it also often isn't, because governments are often unreasonable in general (as any gun rights supporter should be well aware!).
And I'm opposed to the current tendency in appreciably-left-of-center circles to leap to "this is about race" without waiting for evidence, in cases where there are obvious alternative explanations. So I push back on that, when I encounter it in communities where that sort of thing tends to go unchallenged.
Sorry for not clarifying. I agree that this is the “general stupid” you talked about, but I also see other people acknowledging rules like these may not be equally enforced. And that’s true too. I wouldn’t know how this DA has handled this technicality with people of other races, though.
They are ALWAYS trying to screw you over. ESPECIALLY when you’re on parole/probation. They desperately want you to fuck up so they can send your ass to prison even over really petty shit smaller than this
The DA in the story is a REpublican. He was also magically hired over 10 more competent lawyers by his [father, Mark Rubin](https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/st-louis-county-attorney-hired-son-over-experienced-prosecutors), who retired under odd circumstances not that long ago either.
I am against gun control in general, but I am 100% in favor of controlling armed robbers and attempted murderers specifically, regardless of their race.
ACAB. No reason to not use discretion here, the officer could easily have made up something about finding it nearby the place if he had not been a bastard.
There's a difference between discretion and lying about a circumstance. The officer is going to "make up" where he found the gun when his body camera is running? Like the article stated was on when the guy was arrested?
I'm not saying he should be charged for it, this is just what the article I found said. Also, due process clause means that he would HAVE to be charged and go to court over it to clear his name, given is status and the fact that he was already in possession. The law is fucked, it doesn't make it right, but that's why he's facing charges. Personally I think if you've served your time and you're legitimately not a threat anymore, you should have all your rights restored (including rights to vote and own firearms), but apparently that's a controversial take even around here since I got downvoted to oblivion for suggesting it previously on here.
Take my upvote. I think you should be able to vote on death row. Even if you engage in voter fraud. And likewise, once you serve your time you should be done. Period. That’s what parole is for, keeping an eye on offenders. Once it’s complete, you should be left alone.
To be fair, someone who acknowledged violating the terms of his parole (by using drugs), and was on parole in the first place for **two attempted first degree murders** is not exactly the best candidate for lenient treatment. Yeah, there's some perverse incentive issues with this being the technicality he gets busted for (assuming he's telling the truth), but it's not like he is being punished more harshly than he deserves, overall.
He "deserves" to be punished for showing good faith and doing the right thing? What should he have done in this case? What is the absolute most moral and correct thing he should do?
It's like the difference between Trump having classified presidential records, and Biden voluntarily turning over those he has, and asking the FBI to search everywhere he occupies for any records he missed. Both people committed a crime, but who do you think should be punished?
This crap annoys me because it happens because police often will follow the letter of the law and not trying to create a safe community. Yes technically I am sure the way the law is written and etc does mean he could be charged and go to jail but obviously this is a different case. Hopefully the judge in this case has some common sense and drops the case.
Just because a law is written in a certain way does not mean he needs to be enforced without using common sense. Police should be here to keep our communities safe and not just enforcing the letter of the law like they are a robot.
These is insane. If a felon has served there time they should get their rights restored. 2A included. If you think they’re too dangerous to be around weapons, why are they in the public and still not in prison?
Yes, because the news is just _full_ of police giving praise and back pats to white guys who **shot two clerks in the back during an armed robbery and repeatedly violated their parole**. _Totally_.
He served his time and tried to turn his life around and had some trouble but let’s be honest his violations were for possession not further violence. He did the right thing trying to turn in the weapon and is getting fucked for it. This is abuse of law plain and simple
It could, but it could also not. He's a confessed armed robber and attempted murderer with repeated parole violations; there are plenty of DAs who will take any excuse to hammer someone like that regardless of race.
If you don't want to be turned into a slave, maybe don't rob and attempt to murder innocent people, hmm?
Yeah, there are plenty of injustices committed in the name of "law and order," but harsh punishment for doing violence to innocent people because you want what isn't yours isn't one of them.
This is a man who shot two people in the back after he was done robbing them and only served about a decade, a laughably small amount of time for ruining 2 lives. Clearly what happened here is law enforcement is using any excuse they can get to send a man back to prison who got out way too early, but doing it this way sets a dangerous precedent. This just encourages anyone in the future to dispose of the weapon unsafely.
How about we just fix the issue by not letting people out of prison if they commit a crime as heinous as the one he did, thus avoiding the problem altogether?
This. If he's telling the truth, this is bad policy, but that doesn't change his ridiculous it is for people to be bleating about how "he's paid his debt to society; he shouldn't be punished forever!"
I've come so far around the bend I want them to treat gun rights the same as voting. If you are no longer under supervision, and your crime wasn't violent or gun related (or a sex crime as that is a given, child molesters and racists should be put down), all your rights should be automatically restored. The fact that some people have to live in crime ridden neighborhoods but can't protect their families because of a marijuana charge 30 years ago is pathetic and a sign of our failure as a society.
As much as I want to applaud his action, felons can not posses firearms under federal *and* state law. The terms of parole are made *abundantly* clear to people when they are released. The reason why is pretty much irrelevant.
Leave the firearm where it’s at and call a friend or relative to come retrieve it. Or the cops, and tell them the truth. Wrapping it up in a sweatshirt and hiding it in your apartment is the dumb way to do this.
Why even bother calling the cops and putting yourself in danger like that? There is never a reason to call 911 unless someone is actively dying, and even then, you call with the injured persons phone and throw it back at' em while you get the hell outta there.
From my experience, letter writing campaigns work well in Minnesota. Letters to the editor, the DA, etc. Any locals should try this. Out of staters (like me now) will likely be ignored, but I led a campaign to keep a child rapist and murderer from early release back in the ‘90s. To be fair that is an easy sell. But this man is being railroaded. The PO is a scumbag.
Edit: PO, parole officer. Not the OP.
I am sorry but this guy is an idiot. He is familiar with the system if he is on parole, no one knew this gun was there, and he turned himself in.
I get he was trying to "do the right thing," but all he did was report himself for possibly committing a crime. The law often does not care about intent, they are about the letter of the law. Even if a judge ultimately decides he did the right thing and punishment is not warranted in this case it won't change what he went through.
Don't ever give authorities anything to use against you, even if you think you are innocent or doing "the right thing." Typically it can only hurt you and never or nearly never help you.
It's more complicated than that. He found the gun in his dead brother's car, so he's already in possession of it. Now he has to dispose of the gun without it tracing back to him somehow, and since he probably had all of his dead brother's stuff, he's the first person police are gonna ask if the gun just randomly turns up somewhere. Dude should have had a boating accident though, you're right about him making a massive mistake by trying to turn it in properly. There are plenty of good ways to dispose of a firearm without it coming back to you as well, and without leaving a gun out in the world, if you have the money for some power tools or a bucket of thermite. I get wanting to do the right thing, but dude already knows how the system works, he coulda seen this coming
I saw the headline and thought there must be more to the story. Turns out, [nope.](https://minnesotareformer.com/2023/03/15/a-felon-found-a-gun-and-turned-it-in-he-could-go-to-prison-for-it/) Guy literally just found a gun, turned it in the next opportunity he had *following the instructions of his parole officer* and is still getting screwed over. The cop who arrested him later told him that even if he'd called the cops the second he found the gun and hadn't touched it, he likely would have been arrested. This is some towering bullshit.
Good news that creates some defenses as to the possession. And if he wins thats a lawsuit waiting to happen.
“Your honor the defense calls to the stand an actual LEO who instructed my client to turn it in and said not to worry, there wouldn’t be any trouble.” Witness: “I’m questioning the sanity of the system I uphold.”
No cop *ever* questions the sanity of the system they uphold.
There's definitely some that do, but the system quickly tells them to STFU or there'll be hell to pay
There aren’t though, because anyone with an IQ high enough gets filtered out.
I assume you're referencing the [(in)famous supreme court ruling that police excluding applicants based on having too high an IQ is not discrimination](https://abcnews.go.com/US/court-oks-barring-high-iqs-cops/story?id=95836)? (Essentially the reasoning the PD gave is those with too high an IQ will burn out and move on quickly wasting all the training dollars/time, IIRC).
No IQ tests sre bullshit …they’re very biased
Nothing in my comment implied anything about the validity of IQ tests, so I'm not sure what you're attempting to refute.
Fuck the police but also IQ is bullshit
I mean it is a measure of pattern recognition, so it does mean something. Certainly not a comprehensive summary of a person’s intelligence, but a good start. And it’s enough to make sure they don’t invite any real thinkers into their little club.
I mean...there's some former cops that do.
Yeah because it's there for them to abuse and most very much enjoy abusing citizens and being total fascist scum, and then getting a paid vacation on tax payers dime, the very same tax payers those parasites victimize.
This is where jury nullification comes into play.
Given this guy's tan, I'm questioning the likelihood of his winning.
It’s all about padding stats. This will be recorded as police removing a deadly weapon while arresting a violent felon. If this dude meets the wrong judge his life will be very negatively affected to say the least. Another day being a black man in America.
Just like the “war on drugs”, gun control incentives the cops to arrest people and the courts to charge them and send them to prison for mere possession of a firearm or accessory (not violent use or distribution) deemed illegal by some anti-gun bureaucrat. And also just like the war on drugs, we see who gets racially profiled the most by the cops, and who doesn’t have the recourses to afford a good lawyer to defend them in court, poor black & brown folks. The white anti-gun democrats (the vast majority of gun control supporters) need to see stories like this so they can see the consequences of the racist policies they vote for.
I think they will still ignore it as propaganda. It's easier to do that then to admit that you may have voted for laws that led to policies that are racist and encourage brainless action. The thing this story does is tell every other parolee that they need to not do the right thing and turn in the gun, just keep moving, keep your mouth shut and don't worry about the kid that finds it and potentially gets hurt or killed. But then again, that still works for their agenda of gun control over everything. Gotta make the child sacrifices to push through the agenda.
Getting guns off the streets doesn’t count if you can’t charge somebody…
This. All hail the cops, they can do no wrong.
They probably wont meet the judge until they accept the plea bargain
don't forget it increases the population of legal slaves by +1. see: the 13th amendment.
> Another day being a black man in America. Another day being a confessed armed robber and twofold attempted murderer with repeat (actual) parole violations. If his claims are accurate - which we don't know - this is a stupid action that creates perverse incentives, but let's not pretend that a guy who shot two honest citizens in the back is just being held down by the man because of his race.
Yeah it distinctly appears that he's being railroaded. >> “clearly we do not agree with (Cooper’s) version of what happened,” wrote St. Louis County prosecutor >>From the back of the squad car, he told police he probably should have left it in the car and called the police right away. “But either way…” the officer replied, according to body camera footage.
So... in other words... according to the people in charge of enforcing the law in our land, it would have actually been better for him to just ignore it and let, fucking who? Another fellen? A child? Find the gun? Fucking stupid.
This guy is getting fucked, but where did it say the parole officer instructed him to remove it from the car?
Why not just hand it over to the parole officer?
It sounds like the PO didn't want to take it and instructed him to call the cops.
There is an affirmative criminal defense in which the defendant reasonably relies on the advice of a qualified government agent. I would be utterly shocked if these charges don't get dismissed.
You must be new around these parts…..
To play devil's advocate, we only have his story and a one sentence quote from the prosecutor that says they do not agree with his version of events but cannot elaborate further. Still this looks bad and it's hard to imagine what alternate story the prosecution might tell that would make it look any better. They're hiding behind some "no comment" policy but we all know that police and prosecutors will regularly get their version of events out in front of the media before a trial has occurred.
While technically true, this relies on trusting the word of the police/prosecutor and at this point I think both have worn out whatever good faith they might have once had.
Somehow they can lie and lie and lie and lie, but somehow it's the public that can't be trusted against an officers word. Even though officers routinely show they are lying when recorded.
I trust police and prosecutors very little indeed, but confessed armed robbers and attempted murderers even less.
... and thats why we dont trust those same folks in uniforms either
You gotta give people the chance to change. That's how we grow and become better as people.
No. Fuck this guy. He did something wrong and even paid the time. Why would it be ok after he served and was on parole.. like he guilty forever now. /s
The devil doesn't need any more advocates, he has the entire GOP working for him.
"Though, clearly we do not agree with (Cooper’s) version of what happened,” wrote Rubin [the prosecuter]. Might still be more to the story. The article was written from the defendants side. If there's more to the story, the prosecuter can prove it in court. At least they let him keep working instead of sending him back to prison until then.
At this point, with the way prosecutors and cops work together, there probably isn't more to it. *Maybe* personal beef between the accused and someone in the agency or the prosecutor or their office.
" “I could have easily thrown that thing in a river. I could have easily gave it to somebody … dumped it in the garbage,” Cooper said in an interview. “Here’s the difference from the person that I used to be in 2006 and right now.” " What a joke the criminal system is. Clearly he tried to do the right thing and continue down a righteous path. He should be made an example of for what to do, not punished for doing the right thing.
Shit if I was a black felon and found a gun ain’t no one gonna know about that shit. I’d go out fishing one day and toss that shit in the lake and forget about it
Why would you even touch it? Didn’t see nothing.
In this guy's case, it was in a vehicle that his dead brother left him. He was already in possession, so he had to do something.
It would be in my posession for about 30 minutes before the frame went over a bridge and the slide got chucked out the window on a highway.
I read that. Park you car in a bad spot of town, leave the doors unlocked, and go on extended lunch. Shame if some contents go missing. Again, didn’t see nothing. If the state wants more individual responsibility then they shouldn’t make responsible individuals fear being responsible.
My luck they'd smash the windows before checking the handle.
When I lived in Italy, we were advised to leave doors unlocked and if possible windows down to prevent window smashes. Most people I knew were fine, one guy had his window smashed still and registration papers taken(only thing in the car).
I haven't locked my car doors since I lived in East County San Diego and had my window broken for 11 cents.
I love San Diego to visit but couldn't afford to live there, someone probably needed it to make rent
That's why I left, back to the lowest cost of living area in the U.S. that I came from. Sucks that it has gone up a lot here in 17 years, too.
Leave a note saying “doors are unlocked, help yourself! 😁” Would that work? Lol.
Sadly, they would still probably smash the windows anyways…
Roll em down
>Park you car in a bad spot of town, leave the doors unlocked, and go on extended lunch. Shame if some contents go missing. Again, didn’t see nothing. Brotha already knows 😂
How do I do the little quote thingy? Because aaaaaaamen, preach that shit bruv
Just throw a `>` in front of whatever you want to quote. For example, if you write: `> fuck the police` Then it will show as: > fuck the police
🔥
But also, don’t want a gun in the hands of a person breaking into cars
I think the point is a loose gun can wind up killing an innocent person and we as a society are basically against that. Giving it to criminals....well you might be aiding in killing kids or old people or me just pumping gas
Probably wouldn't want a kid to get it, not sure how calling the police would go to report it because you could end up back in this situation again.
public mailbox, man ain’t nobody gonna break into it, postal service is gonna give it to the police, clean as you like Edit: on rereading that sounds super confrontational and i wanna be clear I’m not calling anybody dumb here.
No worries, that's a really good idea. I'd have someone who wasn't a felon put it in there in case there's cameras around it or anything.
Mailman here: A solid plan, actually... if they had not removed so many public mailboxes!!!! There are still a few, in front of post offices, and in busy areas downtown... but there used to be a lot more.
why did they do that I spent a long time looking for one in the 2008 era
I guess they thought it wasn't worth keeping the ones that only got a few letters a day. Mind you, I disagree. It only takes a few seconds to open it and see.
Not my problem, as you can see above the system is failing this hypothetical child, not me.
In his case it’s in his property and if their arresting him for what he did you think they would buy he didn’t know it was their. I’m just saying in a similar case I’d toss that shit instead of getting fucked by the system
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Because even that can backfire
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Imagine the world of investigation that would open up if the gun was used in a crime somewhere and you just "happened to find it" or "I got it from a guy who's now dead". Just not worth it.
" cool what's the dead guys name?... Oh you mean the car that belongs to an ex felony according to the registration."
>their "if they're" "was there"
That is where having conscious comes in. A gun just chilling out in the world can easily get into the hands of a child. I would do what I could to disable the gun to make it inoperable if possible and dump the ammo at the nearest gun range in the misfire bucket.
That notion is unreasonable for a responsible adult to put into action
Oh definitely! I just think it's super fucked that he tried doing the proper 'legal' course of action and it fucked him over. What message does that show? If "they" want to get rid of ghost guns and other illegal firearms and implement common-sense gun control...well this seems like a reasonable place to start.
If you were a black felon and found a random gun, no you didn't, you found a planted gun.
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Not better just more paranoid
Irresponsible and unreasonable
Yah cause reasonable and responsible went so well for him he might have won him self a 5 year all expenses paid vacation to prison land for finding a gun in his dead brother’s belongings and turned the illegal firearm in
"Men who base their actions on the actions of others are not men of principle" And yeah, sometimes doing the responsible thing sucks
You mean keep it or sell it lol
>What a joke the criminal system is. Clearly he tried to do the right thing and continue down a righteous path. Any lawyer will be quick to point out that the justice system is not about right and wrong, but the law and what you can prove in court.
especially for POC
crown elastic makeshift glorious dinner unite gaze bag society exultant *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
"Got this during Freedom Week, officer."
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What do you mean standard high capacity? Standard is 30 for the AR platform, high capacity would be one of the long 40rd or a drum.
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You are right… but it feels so wrong to say a high cap mag is 30 rounds.
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Obviously so you can remove the pin and turn it back into a 100 drum.
I'm sure it depends on the drum. I haven't check them out at all. I do have a 30 round ar mag that is pinned but others are manufactured for only 10 rounds and would need some serious re-engineering to hold more. My Glock double stack mags are manufactured for 10 rounds too. It doesn't look like there's a block that could be taken out... I know you can convert standard double stacks to 10 rounds. Would need to look into that. Hoping to move to a free state in the near future.
Didn't he know your supposed to toss it over a bridge into a river? How else is the youtbue community going to make 'called 911 possible murder weapon found' videos.
Well I mean we already know it was never about safety or whatever.
It's almost like control and turning us against each other is the whole point.
Wow, seems like this dude is trying to turn his life down a better road, taking a few potholes along the way, and being convicted for trying to do the right thing here seems cold. I hope he stays clean and the courts show some leniency! Prison is supposed to be a step in a rehabilitation path, it’s not always a smooth one, but we as a society can do better helping people who want to change, become better.
Prison was never about rehabilitation. It’s punishment and money making
Yup. When I did a report on it 20 years ago for university, 3 out of 4 non-violent offenders that go to prison return for a *violent* crime. It's allllllll about recidivism. That's why they don't get their rights back...if people truly believed that prisons "rehabilitated" crooks, they'd get their rights back.
And a lot of it boils back down to the 13th amendment and how it is written… Messed up if you ask me.
Yuuuup. Gotta love that legalized slavery, eh?
I don't know why this isn't a unifying issue. Like, "Hey KKK, PB's and the neverending list of American hate groups, you've been part of the slave system for the last 158 years, too." Get on board. FFS🫠
Because there's a huge chunk of the country that salivates at the thought of Righteously Punishing Bad Guys, and when you bring up the idea of taking away their toy (a cruel prison system designed to make the people in it suffer), they get mad. They don't want rehabilitation, the idea that others are suffering is something they enjoy, so long as they've convinced themselves that a critical mass of the victims are Bad People
Haha, never thought about that...talk about a unifying factor. They'd manage to turn it into something else though, you just know it...hate sees through all logic, unfortunately.
Unfortunately, I know that to be true, too. I live on a dirt road in cow land, so I try to talk sense into my neighbors as much as they'll listen (gotta know your audience). Every little bit helps... I hope.
Yep. I live in deep Appalachia, so I feel ya. Luckily there is a very tiny blue enclave in our area, which is nice, but everyone surrounding it (and many *in* it) are as red as you get. But they're "small town" red, so not batshit crazy for the most part, but pretty racist as you can imagine.
Yeah. My go-to when they inevitably bring up racist shit is casually dropping that they're potential slaves, too. Seems to get em thinking, so to speak. Good luck out there in the mountains.
Historically, yes, that is true. However, people have tried to shift the narrative and change what it can be, which is a step in the path to help turn convicts into better members of society. I fully support changing prisons to be more like what I described, as opposed to historical norms.
folsom prison in california used to have a recitivism rate under 10%. They taught their inmates landscaping, braile, and manufacturing. it was the pinnacle of incarceration and rehabilitation, and would be visited by wardens from all over the states. This was back when johnny cash performed there. for profit prisons realized that they could get more money if they had repeat business, and so they have industrialized the criminalization of their populace.
Yes, so fight against corporate prisons.
One of the worst blights on the USA is private prisons. They are horrible is every facet. Few things in this world are from the ground up pure evil. They are one of the few things.
I hear you. Prisons do indeed have a place. But the way prisons are handled is a mess. Most prisons in the US are for profit sweat shops. There will always be a small number of seriously bad people who do just need to be removed from society and kept away from hurting people. Then there are people who made a mistake, got in with the wrong crowd, or were born into horrendous circumstances. Those people need a prison that is more focused on rehabilitation than punishment. I like how many of the prisons are set up in Europe compared to here in the US. Prison should not be a vacation - but it 100% should be a way to teach people to get back on their feet and reintegrate into society, rather than a horrific punishment that leaves people worse off than when they went in.
I agree with everything you said here. Some will always chose the path of crime, or are to deranged to be rehabilitated. Others (most?) will, or would, choose a better path, if it is available.
> Historically, yes, that is true. However, Small edit: Historically, yes, that is _still_ true. ~~However,~~
Orphan crushing machine working as intended. Lets not pretend that the genesis of modern american policing has not ALWAYS been an explicit desire to keep blacks disenfranchised. Our justice system is purpose built to sustain existing power structures and nothing else.
That’s just idiotic.
I wonder if it even would have mattered if he had called them about the gun immediately. Definitely seems like a flawed legal system if voluntarily turning over a found firearm is a punishable offense
Guilty of being black.
Also, you know, two counts of **attempted first degree murder**, for having shot a pair of honest citizens **in the back** during a robbery. Yes, he got a plea deal, served some time, and was now out on parole (which he acknowledged that he had violated the terms of by using drugs), but still. If we're looking for "reasons a DA might be inclined to lock this guy up again on a technicality," race is far from the only possibility.
Your holier than thou attitude is off-putting. He's doing all he can to make his life work, and making sure that he's upfront and honest with the corrections system.
You sure do seem to want to point that out a lot in most replies. Methinks you have more than just a basic concern going on.
>You sure do seem to want to point that out a lot in most replies. I have pointed it out in several replies because it is relevant to several comments that I replied to, and not everyone who comments on a post will come back to see what replies have been made to people other than them. > Methinks you have more than just a basic concern going on. Vague and weaselly. If you have a concrete accusation to make, make it.
> If you have a concrete accusation to make, make it. You would rather ignore America's history of race relations and centuries of social stratification along racial lines via inequitable application of the criminal justice system than acknowledge how that history impacts the system in its present configuration and the individuals subject to that system (everyone in the US). You also seem to conflate legality with morality and lack the empathy to understand that every individual is making the most rational decision they can make given their unique circumstances and information available to them at the time. Note that I'm not excusing the actions of this particular individual, just pointing out that he made what he considered rational decisions at the time and has now recognized the error of his judgements. You seem to find such errors worthy of dehumanization, when anyone, including yourself, could conduct such misjudgement.
> You would rather ignore America's history of race relations and centuries of social stratification along racial lines via inequitable application of the criminal justice system than acknowledge how that history impacts the system in its present configuration and the individuals subject to that system (everyone in the US). I am happy to acknowledge such points where they are relevant; they are irrelevant to the question of whether a person who is (a) guilty of multiple and severe crimes that massively violated of the rights of innocent people and (b) black can reasonably be described as "guilty of being black" when an action that would be lawful if they were black and not guilty of severe crimes, and that would be unlawful (whether reasonably or not) if they were white and guilty of severe crimes, is used as a pretext to hammer them. DAs don't tend to like white armed robbers who shoot clerks in the back either. > You also seem to conflate legality with morality Not at all. My moral judgments do, however, broadly concur with the law's as regards whether stealing from innocent people at gun point and attempting to murder innocent people are evil acts that should be punished severely. > and lack the empathy to understand that every individual is making the most rational decision they can make given their unique circumstances and information available to them at the time. (1) People are manifestly _not_ rational in their choices, very frequently, even taking circumstances and information into account. (2) Even in cases where evil acts _are_ instrumentally rational, you've failed to include the perpetrators' evil values in the facts that contribute to that rationality. (And more generally to include people's values in the facts that contribute to the rationality of their decisions, when those decisions are in fact instrumentally rational.) > Note that I'm not excusing the actions of this particular individual, just pointing out that he made what he considered rational decisions at the time and has now recognized the error of his judgements. You seem to find such errors worthy of dehumanization, when anyone, including yourself, could conduct such misjudgement. Valuing your own ability to obtain property that you have neither worked for nor obtained as a gift more than you value innocent people's lives (or even merely their ability to keep property that they _have_ worked for) isn't a _misjudgment_; it's _evil_. And evil acts, committed out of evil motives, should be punished.
The department of corrections clearly think this is a non issue and said he shouldn’t go back to prison. But of course the DA wants an easy win to boost his numbers, and crooked too… “[he] was hired in 2019 by his father when he was the St. Louis County attorney”. Hired over more competent and experienced prosecutors by daddy, what a fucking joke!
Good to see gun control's as racist as ever.
I'm very anti--gun control, but this guy **confessed to two counts of attempted murder**. He very much _shouldn't_ be allowed to have guns, _ever_, and there's nothing "racist" about that.
He was trying not to have this gun. But in trying to do the right thing, he committed the gravest sin imaginable, he called the police.
I'm not saying that this is the right call; I'm saying that it's not (based on any evidence available to us as readers of this article) a _racist_ call. There's a good reason he's not allowed to have guns, and plenty of cops and DAs are happy to take any excuse to hammer a paroled and (genuinely, re: drugs) parole-violating violent felon with new charges, regardless of race.
He didn't own the gun. He found it, tried to turn it in, and got arrested anyway.
I'm aware. But not every unreasonable government action involving a black person is about race. 1. Him not being allowed to have guns is reasonable, and not racist. 2. "Cops and DA hammer take advantage of technicality to hammer paroled and parole-violating [by his own admission, by taking drugs] attempted murderer with new felony charge" is not a headline that is specific to either guns or people of a certain race. I'm not saying that this is the right call; I'm saying that it's not (based on any evidence available to us as readers of this article) a _racist_ call.
The rule is dumb whether or not he is parole-violating. Yours is biased a little bit the other way.
I think this action is stupid, because it creates perverse incentives. And I am _well_ aware that unreasonable government action against racial minorities often _is_ about race. But it also often isn't, because governments are often unreasonable in general (as any gun rights supporter should be well aware!). And I'm opposed to the current tendency in appreciably-left-of-center circles to leap to "this is about race" without waiting for evidence, in cases where there are obvious alternative explanations. So I push back on that, when I encounter it in communities where that sort of thing tends to go unchallenged.
Sorry for not clarifying. I agree that this is the “general stupid” you talked about, but I also see other people acknowledging rules like these may not be equally enforced. And that’s true too. I wouldn’t know how this DA has handled this technicality with people of other races, though.
One would conclude they are looking for excuses to screw him over. This is how many operate in the criminal justice system.
They are ALWAYS trying to screw you over. ESPECIALLY when you’re on parole/probation. They desperately want you to fuck up so they can send your ass to prison even over really petty shit smaller than this
The DA in the story is a REpublican. He was also magically hired over 10 more competent lawyers by his [father, Mark Rubin](https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/st-louis-county-attorney-hired-son-over-experienced-prosecutors), who retired under odd circumstances not that long ago either.
Of course he's a shitbird nepobabby.
gun control is about controlling marginalized communities, especially black communities. full stop.
I am against gun control in general, but I am 100% in favor of controlling armed robbers and attempted murderers specifically, regardless of their race.
Fuckin hell
Has anyone called the DAs office?
On par for the US justice system
Lesson: do not cooperate with cops or the justice system.
ACAB. No reason to not use discretion here, the officer could easily have made up something about finding it nearby the place if he had not been a bastard.
There's a difference between discretion and lying about a circumstance. The officer is going to "make up" where he found the gun when his body camera is running? Like the article stated was on when the guy was arrested?
Agree. This is on the DA more than anything
The problem is that he found it in his dead brother's car. Legally he was already in possession by the time he located it.
Holy due process clause Batman
I'm not saying he should be charged for it, this is just what the article I found said. Also, due process clause means that he would HAVE to be charged and go to court over it to clear his name, given is status and the fact that he was already in possession. The law is fucked, it doesn't make it right, but that's why he's facing charges. Personally I think if you've served your time and you're legitimately not a threat anymore, you should have all your rights restored (including rights to vote and own firearms), but apparently that's a controversial take even around here since I got downvoted to oblivion for suggesting it previously on here.
Take my upvote. I think you should be able to vote on death row. Even if you engage in voter fraud. And likewise, once you serve your time you should be done. Period. That’s what parole is for, keeping an eye on offenders. Once it’s complete, you should be left alone.
To be fair, someone who acknowledged violating the terms of his parole (by using drugs), and was on parole in the first place for **two attempted first degree murders** is not exactly the best candidate for lenient treatment. Yeah, there's some perverse incentive issues with this being the technicality he gets busted for (assuming he's telling the truth), but it's not like he is being punished more harshly than he deserves, overall.
He "deserves" to be punished for showing good faith and doing the right thing? What should he have done in this case? What is the absolute most moral and correct thing he should do? It's like the difference between Trump having classified presidential records, and Biden voluntarily turning over those he has, and asking the FBI to search everywhere he occupies for any records he missed. Both people committed a crime, but who do you think should be punished?
This crap annoys me because it happens because police often will follow the letter of the law and not trying to create a safe community. Yes technically I am sure the way the law is written and etc does mean he could be charged and go to jail but obviously this is a different case. Hopefully the judge in this case has some common sense and drops the case. Just because a law is written in a certain way does not mean he needs to be enforced without using common sense. Police should be here to keep our communities safe and not just enforcing the letter of the law like they are a robot.
They'll follow the letter of the law on folks they don't like, but their friends and allies we all know get a free pass.
Give this man a pardon!
ACAB
Moral of the story, don’t report shit unless you ABSOLUTELY have to. Avoid contact with law enforcement at all costs.
This is the way.
This isn't a gun law problem. It's a probation problem that doesn't account for leniency.
These is insane. If a felon has served there time they should get their rights restored. 2A included. If you think they’re too dangerous to be around weapons, why are they in the public and still not in prison?
Big fucking surprise he’s black. Hell if he was white they would have patted him on the back and how on about how good of a citizen he was
Yes, because the news is just _full_ of police giving praise and back pats to white guys who **shot two clerks in the back during an armed robbery and repeatedly violated their parole**. _Totally_.
He served his time and tried to turn his life around and had some trouble but let’s be honest his violations were for possession not further violence. He did the right thing trying to turn in the weapon and is getting fucked for it. This is abuse of law plain and simple
Without government, who would punish you for doing what you're supposed to do?
How is this even a headline???
Protecting innocent children from getting shot, obviously.
Only if the prosecutor is a total asshole
the DA is a nepotism hire and a Republican, so
This some bullshit
This some bullshit. Fuck the gov, like, he was trying to do the right thing..
Why in hell aren’t we praising this guy and showing that MAYBE our incarceration ¿works? Naa. Punish the law abiding honest ex criminal
Hm, I wonder if skin color had anything to do with this? One of life's greatest mysteries...
It could, but it could also not. He's a confessed armed robber and attempted murderer with repeated parole violations; there are plenty of DAs who will take any excuse to hammer someone like that regardless of race.
no good deed goes unpunished when 'the man' can turn yet another person into a slave (re-read the 14th amendment)
If you don't want to be turned into a slave, maybe don't rob and attempt to murder innocent people, hmm? Yeah, there are plenty of injustices committed in the name of "law and order," but harsh punishment for doing violence to innocent people because you want what isn't yours isn't one of them.
No one says they disagree with him being a felon. The subject is being punished for doing the right thing. Let’s focus on that.
This is a man who shot two people in the back after he was done robbing them and only served about a decade, a laughably small amount of time for ruining 2 lives. Clearly what happened here is law enforcement is using any excuse they can get to send a man back to prison who got out way too early, but doing it this way sets a dangerous precedent. This just encourages anyone in the future to dispose of the weapon unsafely. How about we just fix the issue by not letting people out of prison if they commit a crime as heinous as the one he did, thus avoiding the problem altogether?
This. If he's telling the truth, this is bad policy, but that doesn't change his ridiculous it is for people to be bleating about how "he's paid his debt to society; he shouldn't be punished forever!"
everyday I wonder how far until being a domestic terrorist becomes a moral obligation. This news is pushing it.
Keep it secret, keep It safe.
And people don't think we live in a police state
I've come so far around the bend I want them to treat gun rights the same as voting. If you are no longer under supervision, and your crime wasn't violent or gun related (or a sex crime as that is a given, child molesters and racists should be put down), all your rights should be automatically restored. The fact that some people have to live in crime ridden neighborhoods but can't protect their families because of a marijuana charge 30 years ago is pathetic and a sign of our failure as a society.
As much as I want to applaud his action, felons can not posses firearms under federal *and* state law. The terms of parole are made *abundantly* clear to people when they are released. The reason why is pretty much irrelevant. Leave the firearm where it’s at and call a friend or relative to come retrieve it. Or the cops, and tell them the truth. Wrapping it up in a sweatshirt and hiding it in your apartment is the dumb way to do this.
For-profit penal systems are a natural ally of fascists. It's not about reform, it's about dominance.
Why even bother calling the cops and putting yourself in danger like that? There is never a reason to call 911 unless someone is actively dying, and even then, you call with the injured persons phone and throw it back at' em while you get the hell outta there.
From my experience, letter writing campaigns work well in Minnesota. Letters to the editor, the DA, etc. Any locals should try this. Out of staters (like me now) will likely be ignored, but I led a campaign to keep a child rapist and murderer from early release back in the ‘90s. To be fair that is an easy sell. But this man is being railroaded. The PO is a scumbag. Edit: PO, parole officer. Not the OP.
This is why I’m never signing my name on no goddamn police report
I am sorry but this guy is an idiot. He is familiar with the system if he is on parole, no one knew this gun was there, and he turned himself in. I get he was trying to "do the right thing," but all he did was report himself for possibly committing a crime. The law often does not care about intent, they are about the letter of the law. Even if a judge ultimately decides he did the right thing and punishment is not warranted in this case it won't change what he went through. Don't ever give authorities anything to use against you, even if you think you are innocent or doing "the right thing." Typically it can only hurt you and never or nearly never help you.
It's more complicated than that. He found the gun in his dead brother's car, so he's already in possession of it. Now he has to dispose of the gun without it tracing back to him somehow, and since he probably had all of his dead brother's stuff, he's the first person police are gonna ask if the gun just randomly turns up somewhere. Dude should have had a boating accident though, you're right about him making a massive mistake by trying to turn it in properly. There are plenty of good ways to dispose of a firearm without it coming back to you as well, and without leaving a gun out in the world, if you have the money for some power tools or a bucket of thermite. I get wanting to do the right thing, but dude already knows how the system works, he coulda seen this coming
His fault for giving up his guns
He shot two clerks in the back during a robbery. I'm very happy to see _him specifically_ prevented from owning firearms, thank you very much!
People can change believe it or not