Free Republic

Back in February, a Buffalo, N.Y. community activist who pushed for a highly restrictive 2013 gun control law was arrested for — wait for it — carrying a gun illegally at a public elementary school. The wheels of criminal justice have now slowly, slowly churned to completion. And wouldn’t you know it? The judge in the case has now found it in his heart to give the heat-packing activist, Dwayne Ferguson, a generously light sentence. On Monday, Judge John L. Michalek sentenced Ferguson to 100 hours of community service and a conditional discharge, according

BUFFALO, NY—Sometimes it’s just fun to see someone who speaks out of both sides of their mouth get into trouble for it. Actually, it’s always fun to see. So, when gun control advocate Dwayne Ferguson was arrested by police for carrying a loaded pistol into Harvey Austin Elementary School, it’s easy to feel smug about it. At 4:15 p.m. on Thursday, local police got a number of anonymous tips that a black male had just been seen walking into the elementary school carrying a pistol. Within minutes of the calls, the school had been placed on lock-down, surrounding streets had...

Dwayne Ferguson spent more than a decade advocating for nonviolence and peace in the streets of Buffalo. He was a well-known face in the movement for the SAFE Act, the state law that made carrying a gun on school property a felony. He was also a familiar presence in the hallways of the city’s Harvey Austin Elementary School, where he worked in the after-school program and mentored students. No one imagined that on Thursday he would show up at the school in possession of a gun, touching off an hours-long lockdown, search and ultimately his arrest on two felony charges....