http://www.goal.org/news/criminalsetfree.htm
For Immediate Release - Gun Owners’ Action League
Boston and Massachusetts Lose All Credibility on Gun Control
The Person Admittedly Responsible for Liquarry Jefferson’s Death Virtually Set Free
In the summer of 2007 we were struck by the tragic news that young Liquarry Jefferson was accidentally killed by an even younger relative. It appears from all recent reports that the young relative got a hold of a loaded handgun that was illegally obtained, illegally possessed and illegally stored by Liquarry’s older brother Jayquan McConnico. When the news of the tragedy broke, the mother misled police by telling them the boy was shot by someone from outside the home.
In the days and weeks to follow, Boston city officials including Mayor Menino couldn’t wait to get in front of a microphone and blame lawful gun owners for the death of this young man. The abhorrent misplaced allegation was said to be that this occurred because the NRA and other pro-civil rights groups were blocking “reasonable” laws that would stop such tragedies.
Such arguments have always been without merit and are in fact used to cover up a lack of social maturity and responsibility that exists in states like Massachusetts. This state spends quite a lot of political capital putting on a good face regarding stopping criminal activity, but it has proven time and again that it lacks the courage to back up that cheap talk. These deficits in maturity and responsibility could not have been more exemplified as they were on the day when the criminal most responsible for Liquarry’s death was virtually let free.
In early October of 2008, the criminal responsible for providing the illegally obtained, illegally possessed and illegally stored loaded handgun was brought before the Boston Juvenile Court. Reports state that the young man faced thirty years in prison for his actions. We know that the violation of Massachusetts storage laws alone (Chapter 140; Section 131L) could have brought him over ten years in prison. This latest action was also complicated by his recorded criminal past. However, the results were that the court remanded him to Department of Youth Services custody, a nine year concurrent probation and a two year suspended sentence for misleading police. The court also ordered that the defendant get a high school diploma and a job. This is the results of a city and state that continually pushes for tougher and tougher laws and berates the rest of the nation for not following their lead on tough gun laws?
In an even further example of lack of social maturity and responsibility the judge and the prosecutor were reported to have said “…if McConnico reoffends, he could be sent packing to MCI-Cedar Junction for up to six years - a safety net for the public Limon and assistant Suffolk District Attorney David Deakin insisted upon…” Reoffend? So if this young criminal is responsible for another death the court will really get tough and actually put him in jail!
For over a decade, the lawful gun owners of Massachusetts have faced crushing persecutory laws that have stripped tens of thousands of their civil rights. Our civil rights as lawful citizen gun owners have been eviscerated in the name of “reasonable” laws to provide public safety.
Because we continue to fight for what little remnants of the Constitution that remain here, we are continually blamed for blocking “common sense” laws that will protect Massachusetts citizens form gun crime.
If nothing else of a positive nature comes from this tragedy, it will be that the rest of the nations will know not to follow the “lead” of Massachusetts when it comes to criminal enforcement, crime prevention, gun laws or integrity. If the City of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts allows the person most responsible for young Liquarry’s death to virtually go free, no official in either government entity will ever again have any credibility in the eyes of its citizens in regard to public safety and the dismantling of the Second Amendment they are so proud of.
We cannot be sure where our so called political leaders are taking us as a society, but one thing is clear, they lack the social maturity and responsibility to do what it takes to keep us safe from known criminals. It would seem that the only so called courage they are capable of displaying are when they attack the ideals of innocent lawful citizens. Never so much have the lessons in George Orwell’s 1945 book “Animal Farm” been so important.
For Immediate Release - Gun Owners’ Action League
Boston and Massachusetts Lose All Credibility on Gun Control
The Person Admittedly Responsible for Liquarry Jefferson’s Death Virtually Set Free
In the summer of 2007 we were struck by the tragic news that young Liquarry Jefferson was accidentally killed by an even younger relative. It appears from all recent reports that the young relative got a hold of a loaded handgun that was illegally obtained, illegally possessed and illegally stored by Liquarry’s older brother Jayquan McConnico. When the news of the tragedy broke, the mother misled police by telling them the boy was shot by someone from outside the home.
In the days and weeks to follow, Boston city officials including Mayor Menino couldn’t wait to get in front of a microphone and blame lawful gun owners for the death of this young man. The abhorrent misplaced allegation was said to be that this occurred because the NRA and other pro-civil rights groups were blocking “reasonable” laws that would stop such tragedies.
Such arguments have always been without merit and are in fact used to cover up a lack of social maturity and responsibility that exists in states like Massachusetts. This state spends quite a lot of political capital putting on a good face regarding stopping criminal activity, but it has proven time and again that it lacks the courage to back up that cheap talk. These deficits in maturity and responsibility could not have been more exemplified as they were on the day when the criminal most responsible for Liquarry’s death was virtually let free.
In early October of 2008, the criminal responsible for providing the illegally obtained, illegally possessed and illegally stored loaded handgun was brought before the Boston Juvenile Court. Reports state that the young man faced thirty years in prison for his actions. We know that the violation of Massachusetts storage laws alone (Chapter 140; Section 131L) could have brought him over ten years in prison. This latest action was also complicated by his recorded criminal past. However, the results were that the court remanded him to Department of Youth Services custody, a nine year concurrent probation and a two year suspended sentence for misleading police. The court also ordered that the defendant get a high school diploma and a job. This is the results of a city and state that continually pushes for tougher and tougher laws and berates the rest of the nation for not following their lead on tough gun laws?
In an even further example of lack of social maturity and responsibility the judge and the prosecutor were reported to have said “…if McConnico reoffends, he could be sent packing to MCI-Cedar Junction for up to six years - a safety net for the public Limon and assistant Suffolk District Attorney David Deakin insisted upon…” Reoffend? So if this young criminal is responsible for another death the court will really get tough and actually put him in jail!
For over a decade, the lawful gun owners of Massachusetts have faced crushing persecutory laws that have stripped tens of thousands of their civil rights. Our civil rights as lawful citizen gun owners have been eviscerated in the name of “reasonable” laws to provide public safety.
Because we continue to fight for what little remnants of the Constitution that remain here, we are continually blamed for blocking “common sense” laws that will protect Massachusetts citizens form gun crime.
If nothing else of a positive nature comes from this tragedy, it will be that the rest of the nations will know not to follow the “lead” of Massachusetts when it comes to criminal enforcement, crime prevention, gun laws or integrity. If the City of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts allows the person most responsible for young Liquarry’s death to virtually go free, no official in either government entity will ever again have any credibility in the eyes of its citizens in regard to public safety and the dismantling of the Second Amendment they are so proud of.
We cannot be sure where our so called political leaders are taking us as a society, but one thing is clear, they lack the social maturity and responsibility to do what it takes to keep us safe from known criminals. It would seem that the only so called courage they are capable of displaying are when they attack the ideals of innocent lawful citizens. Never so much have the lessons in George Orwell’s 1945 book “Animal Farm” been so important.