Posted on 08/10/2005 12:19:07 PM PDT by OXENinFLA
To: National Desk
Contact: Peter Hamm of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, 202-898-0792
MEMPHIS, Tenn., Aug. 10 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following was released today by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence:
You kill five people in cold blood, shocking an entire nation. You go to prison. Seven years later, you get out, and you are free to buy all the guns you want.
What a country.
Mitchell Johnson, who as a 13-year-old on March 24, 1998 joined with 11-year-old Andrew Golden to plan and execute the attack at Jonesboro, Arkansas' Westside Middle School that resulted in the death of four students and a teacher and the wounding of 10 others, pleaded guilty to murder. Under Arkansas law, he could only be imprisoned until he turned 21, which is tomorrow, when he will leave a Memphis, Tenn., detention center. Under Arkansas law, he is also not a prohibited purchaser of firearms because he was convicted of the murders as a minor.
"This individual and his accomplice planned their crime. They lured their victims outside with a false fire alarm, and then they slaughtered them. And now, Mr. Johnson is an adult, and he can legally purchase a firearm," said Michael Barnes, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
"I hope this young man has changed, and that he is not a threat to others. But this is a textbook case of an individual who should be deemed by society as forever barred from the privilege of owning a gun," Barnes said. "The fact that he will be legally allowed to own one is an absolute embarrassment in our society."
If prohibited, by law, from buying a gun, he could once again conjure up that same magic to obtain a gun and shoot five more people to death.
He's a magician who is mysteriously not bound by our laws. He should be bound by our prison bars, where that voodoo that hedoo will be contained.
Correct... but the sad truth is that there are many people that believe every lie and bit of misinformation spewed by the Brady people.
I see no such exemption.
It says "Have you ever been convicted" not "Have you ever been convicted as an adult".
There's a big difference between the records of an offense being sealed, being expunged (even then they're not *really* gone!) and being pardoned.
For example, when doing the paperwork (it's electronic, but I digress) for a security clearance, they tell you the only thing that can be omitted are certain drug offenses and only when they were dealt with by a certain section of the law.
I wouldn't take the BATFE's word on this either; a lot of them are more anti-gun than the Bradys.
Don't worry. He's been rehabilitated.
In fact, he says he wants to be a pastor.
Would you want to hang this kid if you knew that he may have been forced to take Ritalin or one of the Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors(SSRI) antidepressants, the ones that the FDA recently required black box warnings, albeit for risk of suicide. Nonetheless, a hell of a lot of homicides are associated with SSRIs.
SCHOOL VIOLENCE The Psychiatric Drugs Connection
"Dr Alan Lipman of Georgetown University, who was one of the experts interviewed on network television after the Littleton shootings, remarked that at least one of the boys who committed murder in Jonesboro had been "treated" before the incident, for violent behavior. Treated how? With Prozac, with Zoloft, with a combination of antidepressants?"
"Most urgent in the book's clear, factual presentation, is how the latest rash of school shootings at Columbine, Oregon, Arkansas, Georgia, and so on, are undeniably linked to one of the gunmen being on Prozac, or another SSRI drug like Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, Celexa, Serzone, or even Ritalin." Granted, that is taken from a book review, but I believe this was the only school shooting in Arkansas.
OK. Ya got me.
If in fact, the kid has been drugged to the point that he was incapable of making a sound decision, then I would think that those who drugged him should take responsibility for the actions and he should get time, but not the death penalty.
The slate is wiped clean for this murderer
His record is expunged. He wants to be a preacher
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