He was one of these Y2k people

[MichaelHarris]

"He was one of those believers that the world was going to turn for worst and he was stockpiling weapons, assault weapons."

"In 2000, he was convicted for waiting in the woods for ex-wife with a rifle, wearing a mask and a bulletproof vest. She confronted him and then tried to leave in a vehicle, and Duke shot the tires."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iqA1vQl997v9NFhRWMwHluUR-LYA?docId=9be7b23d6222452a8ad1617d8bb3579a

[EC]

1. So how could this guy have a gun?

He has a record (and a prison term), plus a psychological condition...

[spin]

2. Excellent question. Future gun control should be aimed at disarming ...

people like this rather than sane honest citizens.

[russ1943]

5. It's......... Florida

How could this guy have a gun?

He was in Florida.

He probably had a license to carry a concealed weapon.

There was an award winning series of articles by By Megan O'Matz and John Maines in the Sun-Sentinel in Jan of 2007 titled "License To Carry Florida's Flawed Concealed Weapon Law" (difficult to find for some reason).
Among other things, a quote from one days headings;
Assault. Burglary. Sexual battery. Drug possession. Child molestation. Homicide.
In Florida, people who commit these crimes can get licenses to carry guns.

[friendly_iconoclast]

6. "He probably had a license to carry a concealed weapon." Any evidence of this?

Or is your conjecture made up out of whole cloth?

And I found the article you mentioned. Dogpile is your friend:

http://www.brechner.org/top30/30/30.html

[russ1943]

7. Evidence, no, but read the articles.

By posting;
“Among other things, a quote from one days headings;
Assault. Burglary. Sexual battery. Drug possession. Child molestation. Homicide.
In Florida, people who commit these crimes can get licenses to carry guns”.


I was suggesting the answer to the inquiry, How could this guy have a gun? Could be the legal system in Florida which according to the articles, wasn’t effective in preventing people, who the newspaper documented, have committed assault, burglary, sexual battery, drug possession, child molestation and homicide from obtaining licenses to carry concealed weapons.
Of course I don’t have any evidence he had a concealed weapons license. One of the problems surrounding the access to the information as to whether or not he had a CCW is that information is not available to the public.

Thanks for the link to the articles.

[aikoaiko]

8. The article makes the case that the problem is judges "withholding adjudication", no?

[Euromutt]

11. The late Mr. Duke served a five-year prison sentence

So we can safely assume the judge did not "withhold adjudication" in his case. Ergo, no CCW permit. No legally possessed firearm, either.

[Euromutt]

10. "Award-winning," huh? I didn't know they have prizes for blatant tendentiousness

If the stuff described in that article is an argument for repealing any law, it's mandatory sentencing laws. Because the line that keeps cropping up is "a judge withheld a formal conviction" and I suspect the reason for that is that doing so allowed the judge to impose a sentence he or she thought appropriate, rather than the sentence required by law in the event of a formal conviction.

So what you've got is a bunch of people being eligible for concealed carry licenses because they have not de jure been convicted of the offenses they reportedly committed. It strikes me that any outrage generated by that article should not be directed at the fact that these individuals were able to get CCW permits, but that they weren't formally convicted of these offenses, and essentially let off with probation. I mean, you can complain that a guy with, in effect, a conviction for manslaughter and possession of narcotics with intent to traffick can get a CCW permit, but it seems to me that what you should be complaining about is that the punishment the courts imposed on him was a total of five and half years' probation.

And good grief, does it really have to be explained to these "award winning" journalists that arrests, even a great number of arrests, is not legal proof of wrongdoing?

To bring it back to the late, unlamented Clay Duke, according to the AP article, he actually served a five-year sentence, so we can assume that the judge did not "withhold a formal conviction" in his case, which means he was not eligible to possess a firearm, let alone a CCW permit.

[SteveM]

16. I think it was that cat in Transylvania. Or the Blob (filmed in Miami, at least)...

You can talk about the flaws in legislation all you want, but this fact remains unmoved: The "assaulters, burglers, sexual batterers, drug possessors, child molesters, killers" will get weapons despite the most Byzantine prohibitionist laws and schemes.

It's......... prohibitionism.

[SteveM]

15. Well, do you have an answer? It may lie in the effectiveness of laws...

Almost always followed by the law-abiding; almost never followed by duh crim.

So-o-o-o, more laws for the law-abiding?

[EC]

18. I'm sure this guy sees himself as "law abiding"

his neighbors likely think of him as a "good old boy" that is kinda kooky - but has his heart in the right place, etc., etc. and see nothing wrong with him having a gun...but you are right...law enforcement is lax, just the way the right wing side of this country wants it to be, since they want no regulation...


So, no, no more laws, just enforcement of the ones we have - would have avoided this...

[benEzra]

3. That must be why he pulled a rifle at the school board meeting. Oh, wait, he didn't.

Your point is what, exactly?

[Katya Mullethov]

9. Technically he did sorta wave it around

It wasnt what I would call epic waving , but there's that .

[Euromutt]

12. Yeah, but it was a revolver, not a rifle (n/t)

[benEzra]

13. Latest word I have is that it was a 9mm pistol, but media reports aren't always reliable. (n/t)

[Euromutt]

19. Upon watching the video again, that seems quite plausible

It initially looked like a revolver to me, but it looks like that was an effect of the light making the slide and dust cover look narrower.

[X_Digger]

4. Ooh, ebil black scurry rifles..

I'm sorry, continue on.. I hear this might help..

[SteveM]

17. Ha! Great one.

[cleanhippie]

14. Did he have a police scanner and an Ak-47 too?

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

21. LOL!

[Euromutt]

20. Great, now I'm signing the thread title to the tune of "She was an acrobat's daughter" (n/t)