Prosecutor calls Pa. senator reckless in gun trial

[davepc]

A state senator was reckless for not trying harder to find a missing gun later involved in the death of a 14-year-old neighbor, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday.

Sen. Robert Regola, a 45-year-old freshman Republican running for re-election, went on trial Wednesday on weapons and perjury charges. His attorney told jurors in his opening statement that the trial was, at its core, about the district attorney's desire to restrict guns.

"The first thing I want to tell you is this case is not about the death of Louis Farrell," said the defense attorney, Charles Porter.

Regola is accused of letting his son Bobby, now 18, keep the gun in his bedroom some months before Farrell's 2006 shooting and with failing to store the gun safely the day before Farrell's body was found in the woods behind the families' homes. He also is accused of lying at a coroner's inquest about where the gun was stored.

"We know guns in the hands of the wrong people can be a disaster," Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck told the jury in his opening statement.

...

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/20080709_ap_prosecutorcallspasenatorrecklessinguntrial.html

[zbdent]

1. interesting ... if you, as a parent, end up with one kid at a party who gets alcohol

from your house, and the kid gets in trouble, you can be prosecuted ...

yet this Repugniconvict is trying to weasel out of the fact that his kid is now a suspect in the death of someone with his gun ...

[iverglas]

3. actually

-- see the thread I linked to -- it's pretty firmly established that the boy who is dead did kill himself (intentionally or accidentally, I don't think is known).

Regola Jr. and Sr. -- or II and III or III and IV, or whatever they are -- lied from the moment the body was found.

Regola Jr. was well known to have kept the handgun in his bedroom, obviously with the full knowledge and consent of Sr., and obviously completely illegally because he was underage.

[tburnsten]

4. It may not be illegal for the son to have a firearm

in his room, in fact I doubt that they broke any laws regarding firearms storage and handling, just lots of rules, especially since it was "well-known" that his son kept a gun in his bedroom, that's a no-no, and keeping it in such a way that his neighbor easily stole it is a no-no as well.

Lying to the coroner is a big deal as well.

[iverglas]

5. Well, I dunno

Regola IV was 16 years old at the time of the event. The firearm was a handgun. Regola IV was alone in the house with no adults present.

Does Pennsylvania law, or whatever law applies, actually permit possession of handguns by 16-year-olds?

[tburnsten]

6. In many states that is not illegal

many states don't have specific laws regarding minors and firearms or they have limited use clauses, so just having a gun at home is not neccessarily illegal for the kid. I don't know Pennsylvania law on this though, they may be different. I think there is a relatively new ATF regulation regarding handguns used by people under 18 without parents permission, a very sneaky regulation actually that even applies to supervised use on a structured range with adults.

[iverglas]

2. and the origin of the whole sorry tale can be read

right here at DU:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=118&topic_id=127146&mesg_id=127146

Lying piece of shit Regola, friend of gunheads everywhere. An ex-Democrat, how fortunate.

I'd been meaning for a while to update the story. Note the perjury charge. He lied at every turn of the investigation into the neighbour boy's death.