i glad we have this law. what if my brother was shot by burress? i dont own a gun carry a gun even held a real gun. so if you have an unregistered gun in NYC prepare to pay the price.
I'm not saying that it's impossible that his high profile played a factor in the decisions the DA took, but his idiot lawyer also brought things on him by trying to play the "I'm just a victim" public sympathy card, making it that much less likely that the DA would want to work with him. And sorry, but someone carrying an unholstered loaded weapon into a crowded club (where he was no doubt going to drink as well) gets no sympathy from me, and that has nothing to do with who he is. If it's true that most people would get probation for this, then that's what should be changed, not Burress' sentence.
Not to mention that he discharged the weapon in the club. Had this been in a place where the allowed concealed weapons and multiple drunks were carrying there might have been a shoot out with a lot of bodies? Carry in NY sit your ass down in the slammer. No excuses now.
You could use that same rationale for drunk drivers. 'What would have happened if he killed some innocent guys on the side of the road?' I would think that a vehicle is a much more lethal weapon than a firearm.
Well, how are you going to keep guns away from idiots without incredibly tough gun laws? You're speaking out of both sides of your mouth in this post. Fact is, NYC is the safest big city BECAUSE of the tough gun laws. You're in Syracuse, right?.....so you don't go out in Manhattan a lot. I do. That's who the gun laws are in place to protect. Me!
I don't understand how some people on here are saying it is excessive, the mandatory sentence is 3.5yrs. He blattently ignored the law and, on top of that, was insanely careless by shooting himself. What if by accident the concealed gun was pointed (by chance) in the direction of other people at the club when it went off, could have been a nightmare. Everything aside, why would you bring a weapon into to a nightclub?? He wanted to be a tough guy thug, gimme a f#$%ing break...beyond stupid and unnecessary. What an example he's set for his kids, I am glad he's going to jail.
He is an idiot and it is the law, but lets be real guys, he got fucked. First of all the NYC gun laws are unconstitutional, if i was him i would have took it to the supreme court and arugued that that law it self is the problem, cuz the gun laws in NYC are ridiculous.
Not for nothing, but when did jail sentencing start reflecting upon 'what if' statements? I'm not saying he shouldn't do any time, it's clear that he should, but saying "what if he shot my brother?!" doesn't make sense. If the defendant is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, how can we frown upon him for actions that didn't even occur?
That's why they make laws, generally speaking of course, when you are doing something that increases the chances of someone getting injured unecessarily or financially wronged...speeding, drunk driving, gun control, drugs, accounting legislation, you get my point. I'm not saying he should be jail because 'he could' have injured someone, I'm saying that he should be in jail because he increased the odds of someone getting injured (by bringing a loaded gun into a populated area) for no reason other than that he wanted to be a tough in a bar with a gun. This is how I perceive why the law is in place.
Oh, I agree with the fact that he SHOULD be punished for carrying the weapon, that's not my issue. He did break the law and should be punished accordingly. My qualm is with people who are arguing "He could have shot my brother/grandmother/mailman/babysitter! Lock him up!!" The what if statements have grown repetitive and tired. He didn't shoot anyone else, he shot himself. What if Stallworth hit two people instead of one? What if Big Ben was all hopped up on crack cocaine during his supposed sexual assault? I just wish some people would stick to the facts when judging him. People make bad decisions and mistakes, he'll do his time.
Stallworth was driving 50 in a 40 with a BAC of .12, and the pedestrian stepped out from a very dangerous spot at a time where it was not very light out. The accident easily could have happened to a sober driver. Plax had a fucking loaded gun with the safety off in a crowded place, without a license, tucked into his sweat pants. Neither is acceptable behavior, but it seems pretty obvious which one had less regard for human life.
Tough gun laws don?t keep guns out of idiot hands. Tough Policing does. Here?s a fact, more people die each year from accidental death at the hands of a doctor then by a gun. Should we ban doctors? NYC has gotten better because they?ve loosened the belt on police to do their jobs. Talk to any cop in NYC who?s been doing the job for 20 years or so, and ask them how it?s changed. The gun laws are so insane in NYC that the city doesn?t recognize House Resolution 218 which specifically allows Law Enforcement Officers, municipal and federal, to carry concealed anywhere they go. An FBI agent, stationed outside of NYC, could travel into NYC carrying and TECHNICALLY, be arrested. That?s a good gun law? I agree, Burress is an idiot. He deserved to be punished. But we all deserve a fair trial. You can?t tell me that he got a fair trial. Right, wrong or indifferent to the crime, he didn?t get a fair trial. This about the law and the precedent in place. If you can ignore precedent here, then why have it at all? I agree with the unregistered gun rules. If you have an unregistered gun, then you?re probably up to no good and aren?t knowledgeable with it to begin with. But don?t start the what if game. It?s too infinite. What if he shot and killed an armed robber after he shot himself? What if he foiled a terrorist attack while on his way home? Farfetched, but so is Burress killing your brother. Again, why what if it? I agree, he?s trying to be thug life. But if you want your kid looking up to him in the first place, before the shooting, you?re just a bad parent. A lot of handguns don?t have safeties.
The NYC gun laws have it right the problem is the dipshits in Congress have allowed States to import guns that are beings sold by criminals and make it illegal to trace it back and put them out of business. Criminals have been running guns up to NYC from VA for years and VA and the Fed have made it almost impossible to stop it. NYC did what it needed to do. The decriminilization by States to allow private gun sales to criminals is a huge problem. It's starting to bite the ass of the border towns in Texas. The gun laws have kept guns out of idiots hands and reduced gun death's and gun violence dramatically. The idiots in Congress are about to make it legal for people to have guns in public housing again. When the Guiliani administration took the guns out of public housing murder dropped significantly in NYC and helped provide the regeneration of the boroughs. The guy plead guilty to keep his ass out of jail for an even longer time. Hand guns and concealed weapons in general should never be allowed in Urban areas. If we got these weapons reduced enough we could disarm most of the police.
He didn't have a trial at all - he pled guilty to avoid having one. If he had taken a deal right from the start he probably could have gotten away with serving less time (maybe a year?), but he thought he could walk away scot free. He was wrong. That hardly makes it unfair, and has nothing to do with ignoring precedent. "What if" is constantly used in criminal cases, whether it has to do with the crime involved (that's what endangerment crimes are all about - nothing bad has to actually have happened for behavior to be criminal) or the kinds of deals a DA is willing to consider. I am quite confident that if it was discovered that he had an unloaded unregistered handgun in a locked drawer in his house he wouldn't be going to jail; he probably wouldn't even be charged, but would just be told to either get rid of it or get it registered. That isn't what happened. Rather, he carried a loaded, unholstered, weapon into a crowded club, which he was then negligent with enough so that the gun discharged. Both cases are possession of an unregistered handgun, but they are completely different in their implications. It is very much in society's best interests for people who are that reckless to be treated more severly under the law, as their behavior shows that their very presence in public increases the potential risk to others. I would also add that if this makes some other moron athlete or entertainer think twice before illegally carrying a loaded gun around town, so much the better.
I must respectfully disagree. Gun running will never stop with-out enabling police. If you think excessive law will stop criminals from being criminals then you’re delusional. I’m not saying you do, just a general statement. Reducing gun violence doesn’t reduce violence. You’ve simply forced them to use other means. That’s probably why deaths with cutting instruments have gone up. Law doesn’t protect the innocent, policing does. If you want to change the crime statistics in your city, you better be willing to accept what cops have to do. If people don’t like guns in urban areas, there’s a solution. Don’t live in urban areas. I’m not a fan of lions chasing my ass, that’s why I don’t live in Africa. People have a RIGHT to protect themselves and their families. NYC thinks it has the right to deny that. Disarming Police? I’m not touching that. Look. I think we all agree that because you make millions and are in the spotlight doesn't entitle you to preferential treatment. I'm just saying that also shouldn't doom you to harsher punishment. If Joe Shmuckatelly was in Plax's exact situation, he would be a free man. And you aren't going to find one legal expert in person or on tv who will say otherwise.
And I think that this is not at all true, when you focus on the specific facts of this case (loaded gun carried negligently, crowded public place, gun going off). The fact that no defense attorney would say otherwise is meaningless given the obvious conflict of interest, and no prosecutor is ever going to say it publicly either, since that would weaken their hand in any negotiations they might ever have. I would think that in a case like this a one-year sentence would be routine, and that he could have gotten that if he had tried from the start. Since neither of us has the data to determine this, we'll have to agree to disagree.
In NYC gun control has worked the statistics are clear and all you have to do is look at the redevelpment around some of the worst public housing to see it with your own eyes. NYC is one of the safest cities in the US there is no getting around it. The tide was turned decidedly in the citizens favor when the guns were removed by force from Public Housing. The Congress is considering making it illegal now to deny people from having guns in public housing. The law is the problem, when it comes to guns the law is on the side of people arming themselves including criminals to the teeth. The problem is gun control has been stripped out by Congress and the States to the point there is nothing you can do about other than take action like NYC has. You can already see what's going to happen in the border towns of the US from legal gun running. It's over in Mexico for those cities and towns and it will shortly be over across the border. They are going to be Dodge city with law man being shot to death on the streets.
First of all, lets be clear, because I don't think I said this in a prior post. I do not, in any way, shape or form, agree with allowing criminals to buy guns. I think felony drug and violent crime offenders should be banned from owning ANY guns. I completely agree with you on the keeping guns out of criminal hands. But I don't think you accomplish that by taking from the good, everyday people. This isn't high school. Everybody shouldn't pay for the fuck-ups of the few. Do I think tighter gun control especially on pistol has it's place? Absolutely. But the blanket policy of NYC is not the route, I think, that should have been taken. Texas has nothing to fear with it's border wars. The state empowers the police to do whatever it takes to win. They will look the other way when need be. Personally, I think of all the states in the union, Texas has done the best. Just my opinion.
