Pitarresi: Burress sentence an injustice

Plaxico Burress gets two years for accidentally shooting himself with an unregistered handgun?

 

What?

 

Okay, New York City has tough hand gun laws, and Burress violated them by carrying an unregistered gun. And the accident could have been worse. Others could have been injured. All understood.

 

But two years in jail? The guy wasn’t trying to commit a crime, and he hurt no one but himself. From what I understand, Burress had no prior convictions, had a license from another state for the gun, and was allowed to enter the nightclub with the gun. The gun went off when security at the club had second thoughts and asked Burress to check it.

 

There was no intent here. It was an accident, and the same thing would have happened if Burress did indeed have a New York City permit. And I have to wonder how many people with nonexistent or minor criminal records ever have been sentenced to two years for carry an unlicensed handgun in New York City. My guess is zero. About 22 percent of defendants charged with second degree gun possession are convicted in Manhattan, and about 11 percent in the city as a whole. It's a good bet most of those are repeat offenders who also were charged with another crime in conjunction with the possession charge.

 

 If you think private citizens should not have the right to carry guns, fine, but I vehemently  disagree. Plaxico Burress is being made an example by people who believe private citizens should not carry guns. Did he break the law? Yes. Does he deserve two years in jail? Heck no. A substantial fine,  maybe, but no jail.