Posted on 07/15/2002 10:49:20 AM PDT by Donald Stone
Edited on 09/03/2002 4:50:45 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Andrew C. White
Mr. Kane is remarkably intelligent and articulate. I've never understood why the Bawl'mer Sun continues to employ his services as a columnist.Kane is very solid, pretty much a conservative. If he's bothered, his concerns should not be dismissed on the basis of his race (which some no doubt will do).
This is Baltimore though, the land of governors like Spendenning, mayors like Schmoke and O'Malley, candidates who say "Vote for me because I look like you", and even sports owners like Angelos and modell.
-Eric
On the other hand, with so many local prosecutions of civilians who accidentally shoot another (or prosecution of the parent when the shooter is a minor), this smells like a double standard to me. Then again, there is so much variation amongst prosecutors - maybe this one would not try to indict a civvie who accidentally shot his buddy, let's say, while showing him his newest gun.
That's the way they WANT it. They'd better hurry. Things might move faster than they counted on.
I'm not certain, but I think Federal agents have personal immunity in such cases. As for the police dept., the burden of any civil award will be passed on to the taxpayer.
I guess we'll never know what went on during the grand jury, but I would think they might have a hard time with criminal intent in returning an indictment. It's unreasonable to suppose that the agent meant to commit an assault, so the indictment would hang on whether he was reckless. I wonder if the grand jury might have seen a video of the incident and concluded that he did not appear to be reckless?
I agree that there did not appear to be intent to shoot, and that an indictment would hinge on negligence. I would maintain that if you point a gun at somebody and shoot them, then:
1) you intended to shoot him (not the case here),
2) there was a mechanical problem with the gun causing it to go off without the trigger being pulled (pretty unlikely - if this were the case, I'm sure the government would have publicized it, since it would get their agent off the hook), or
3) you negligently pulled the trigger.
One of Jeff Cooper's four rules of gun safety is to keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target. Remember the picture of the JBT with the subgun when the government took Elian Gonzales from his family in Miami? Regardless of how you feel about the justification for that raid, the picture showed the gunman's trigger finger extended straight along the receiver (i.e. not curled around the trigger). If the FBI goon had done likewise, this young man would not have gotten shot. Hopefully a multimillion dollar judgement will prod the FBI into teaching its agents a little elementary firearm safety (not to mention some courtesy for the taxpayer who pay their salaries and who they are supposed to protect).
Indeed. I usually agree with him. He doesn't fit in with the socialist bent of the Bawl'mer Sun (BS: Is it a coincidence?) very well. I'm glad they carry him, though. He writes well. Maybe he's the token conservative, like Adrienne T. Washington is the token liberal at the Washington Times...
AB
Samurai First Class of the Shogun shoots expendable Peasant Fourth Class.
Charge the uppity peasant for the ammunition to teach him a lesson!
Give the Samurai a medal, to commend him for his swift reactions, which might someday be required to defend the Shogun!
Won't it be magnificent? All those Heros together in one place?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.