Today's debate - former 'war hero' gets 15months for owning a gun

[Pubey]

Too harsh/too lenient/just right?

The amount of people going crazy about this seems completely out of kilter with my view - he owned an illegal firearm, his SAS past is irrelevent (except for the fact that he's a highly trained killer, someone I'd rather not have an illegal firearm).

Anyway, the Mail's completely unbiased and unsensationalised story is here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...m-pistol-remind-22-friends-died-conflict.html

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Why is 'war hero' in inverted commas? Do you doubt that Mr Patterson is a war hero?

 

[Napster]

Old news. He was released yesterday due to good behaviour.

 

[Napster]

ps I agree with his sentence, and so did he - as he pled guilty and it was sentencing guidelines.

 

[rigsby]

Too harsh/too lenient/just right?

The amount of people going crazy about this seems completely out of kilter with my view - he owned an illegal firearm, his SAS past is irrelevent (except for the fact that he's a highly trained killer, someone I'd rather not have an illegal firearm).

Anyway, the Mail's completely unbiased and unsensationalised story is here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...m-pistol-remind-22-friends-died-conflict.html

What if it was a legal firearm, would that be ok.

 

[OldBlueLady]

If he's now living in Thailand, I don't understand how he was prosecuted? If he left the firearm at his former marital home which is now occupied by his ex-wife, then shouldn't she have been responsible for knowing what was in the house?

 

[southendkid]

You're a bit behind with the story, he got released 2 days ago after people campaigned for his release.

The fact he had 'a 9mm self-loading pistol, five rounds of expanding ammunition, 177 rounds of 9mm ammunition, four Enfield pistols and a self-loading rifle component' makes me think The Daily Mail is playing up the 'gun kept to remind him of his dead comrades' angle a bit more than is actually true. The actual defence tucked away at the bottom of the article seems to be that he was abroad a lot of the time and so never had a chance to hand in the weapons before it became illegal to possess them, and by the time he had a chance to do it he realised he'd get prosecuted if he reported them so decided to just keep quiet. Not quite as tear jerking but that makes a lot more sense. The sentencing probably was right since he'd left a bunch of guns in a house he didn't live in which seems negligent, I'm pretty sure even if you have a gun permit now you'll get in trouble if you leave them somewhere people other than you can access. Still don't really care he's been released, it's not like he's going to have access to more guns so there isn't much point locking him up.

 

[Jam_Man]

Too harsh/too lenient/just right?

The amount of people going crazy about this seems completely out of kilter with my view - he owned an illegal firearm, his SAS past is irrelevent (except for the fact that he's a highly trained killer, someone I'd rather not have an illegal firearm).

Anyway, the Mail's completely unbiased and unsensationalised story is here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...m-pistol-remind-22-friends-died-conflict.html

Why?

Id rather someone trained had a gun than someone who wasn't.

If it was just the one gun Id have more sympathy, but it having 5 of them is collecting and its not legal. End of. Fact.

 

[Pubey]

Why is 'war hero' in inverted commas? Do you doubt that Mr Patterson is a war hero?

I've no idea if he's a war hero or not, and lots of ex-military people aren't keen on being referred to as a war hero. Also I was just quoting how the Mail had referred to him.

 

[Pubey]

Why?

Id rather someone trained had a gun than someone who wasn't.

If it was just the one gun Id have more sympathy, but it having 5 of them is collecting and its not legal. End of. Fact.

Really? If I was going to be the victim of a crime involving a gun I'd prefer them not to be able to use it effectively.

In the very rare situation when they could intervene in a crime then their training would clearly be a benefit.

Studies suggest veterans are more likely than civilians to commit violent crimes, to commit domestic abuse, and to commit suicide. A lot of these stats are confounded by other things like PTSD, but it suggests why we shouldn't be treating a veteran differently in this instance.