We remain amazed that anyone in the firearms community still supports “Exile,” when the truth is any such law based on firearm possession is only used to inhibit lawful gun ownership. (As the anti-gun Montgomery County State’s Attorney Doug Gansler observed: “Gun laws are what we use when we can’t get you some way else.”) We used to say “it’s not the gun, it’s the criminal.” But gun owner support of Exile confuses the public, since backers effectively say “okay, sometimes it is the gun.” Then left-leaning pols use our side’s supportive statements to launch programs focused on grabbing guns, not on jailing thugs.
Some friendlies are in an awkward position. They back Exile, but publicly railed against the state’s handling of Don Arnold. (You may recall Arnold was the “Citizen of the Year” whose one night stay in jail 30 years ago was a disabling event for him.) Arnold is the poster child for why we don’t want Exile, since he is exactly the type of individual to whom stiff mandatory sentences would be given were he to be caught in possession of a gun. The pols who back Exile but honor Arnold are trying to have it both ways, which they simply can’t do.
We’ve published in the past some of the silly ways you can become barred from possessing a gun or ammo again. Here’s the latest, in case you missed the legislature’s spring gift to tobacco-using gunowners. Check out §13-1015, Willful transportation of unstamped cigarettes. “A person who willfully ships, imports, sells into or within, or transports within, this State cigarettes or other tobacco products on which the tobacco tax has not been paid … is guilty of a felony ….” Punishment is jail time up to two years. Folks, those words trigger a gun disability.
Do you buy cigarettes outside the state? Bring an extra pack across state lines and a traffic stop by one observant officer could turn into a conviction on untaxed tobacco. You’d permanently lose your right to possess guns or ammunition. Your being caught in possession of a gun anyway would be another crime, which under Exile would become a mandatory multi-year jail sentence. That’s what politicians mean by “getting tough on gun crime.“