16th Feburary 2010
Speaking of Deterrents

If there is one thing that most law-abiding citizens in this country agree on, it is that our Justice System seems to be too lenient when it comes to doling out punishment to those who break the law.
We think of the often quoted adages, such as, “Don’t commit the crime if you can’t pay the time”; “Justice will be served”; “You will be prosecuted to the full extent of the Law”, etc., but we ask ourselves, “When does it happen?”
True, the laws and the appropriate penalties that one should pay when they are transgressed are on the books, but one is tempted to ask, “When was the last time that anyone convicted of possession of an illegal firearm sentenced to pay the $15,000 prescribed on those books?” The penalty for proven premeditated murder is death by hanging … and while we all cringe behind locked and burglar-barred doors in our homes at night, or fear to venture outdoors for fear that some violent-minded, callous individual may just simply find it “irie” to walk straight up to us, place the working end of a pistol to our temple and pull the trigger, the supposed penalty for his perpetration of such an act may just as well be non-existent.