Matt Yglesias on the Non-Papering of DC Gun Arrests

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Caught with an illegal gun?

The commonsense approach would be

1. Take away the gun

2. Issue a hefty fine

3. Failure to pay the fine/maintain a payment plan results in an additional fine.

Go after a person’s wages if necessary.

We can’t lock up everybody.

NRA propaganda here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeglesias’ obsession with sending Black children and young men to jail for essentially statutory offenses (which is exactly what mere possession of gun, absent another associated crime IS) is racist AF.

Simply being in possession of a gun is not a violent crime in and of itself. It is abhorrent to send people to jail for nonviolent offenses.

If they shoot someone or commit a robbery or assault or some other violent crime, they should be prosecuted for that and the gun possession as well, and serve a commensurate sentence.

But simply possessing a gun illegally absent any other crime, especially a crime of violence, is just blatant naked racism designed to put Black males into the criminal justice industrial complex.

No-papering is EXACTLY what prosecutors should be doing. That’s what I support.

Gee, I wonder what someone illegally in possession of a gun plans to do with it. But by all means wait until they victimize someone with it. You cannot be this much of a moron.

You’re the moron, moron.

Possession isn’t a violent act. It doesn’t harm anyone. It violates words on a piece of paper. That’s all. It does absolutely no harm to a person or to anything else. I defy you to explain how someone simply possessing a gun inflicts harm on anyone.


You cannot.

All you’re left with is “but if they might ______” or “they could _______ “.


Go ahead - try and make a case for harm done by possession that doesn’t rely on hypotheticals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeglesias’ obsession with sending Black children and young men to jail for essentially statutory offenses (which is exactly what mere possession of gun, absent another associated crime IS) is racist AF.

Simply being in possession of a gun is not a violent crime in and of itself. It is abhorrent to send people to jail for nonviolent offenses.

If they shoot someone or commit a robbery or assault or some other violent crime, they should be prosecuted for that and the gun possession as well, and serve a commensurate sentence.

But simply possessing a gun illegally absent any other crime, especially a crime of violence, is just blatant naked racism designed to put Black males into the criminal justice industrial complex.

No-papering is EXACTLY what prosecutors should be doing. That’s what I support.

Gee, I wonder what someone illegally in possession of a gun plans to do with it. But by all means wait until they victimize someone with it. You cannot be this much of a moron.

You’re the moron, moron.

Possession isn’t a violent act. It doesn’t harm anyone. It violates words on a piece of paper. That’s all. It does absolutely no harm to a person or to anything else. I defy you to explain how someone simply possessing a gun inflicts harm on anyone.


You cannot.

All you’re left with is “but if they might ______” or “they could _______ “.


Go ahead - try and make a case for harm done by possession that doesn’t rely on hypotheticals.

It’s like heroin, explosives, or child porn - something may have happened before or might happen later, but criminalizing mere possession makes innocent people criminals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeglesias’ obsession with sending Black children and young men to jail for essentially statutory offenses (which is exactly what mere possession of gun, absent another associated crime IS) is racist AF.

Simply being in possession of a gun is not a violent crime in and of itself. It is abhorrent to send people to jail for nonviolent offenses.

If they shoot someone or commit a robbery or assault or some other violent crime, they should be prosecuted for that and the gun possession as well, and serve a commensurate sentence.

But simply possessing a gun illegally absent any other crime, especially a crime of violence, is just blatant naked racism designed to put Black males into the criminal justice industrial complex.

No-papering is EXACTLY what prosecutors should be doing. That’s what I support.

Gee, I wonder what someone illegally in possession of a gun plans to do with it. But by all means wait until they victimize someone with it. You cannot be this much of a moron.

You’re the moron, moron.

Possession isn’t a violent act. It doesn’t harm anyone. It violates words on a piece of paper. That’s all. It does absolutely no harm to a person or to anything else. I defy you to explain how someone simply possessing a gun inflicts harm on anyone.


You cannot.

All you’re left with is “but if they might ______” or “they could _______ “.


Go ahead - try and make a case for harm done by possession that doesn’t rely on hypotheticals.

It’s like heroin, explosives, or child porn - something may have happened before or might happen later, but criminalizing mere possession makes innocent people criminals.

Child porn HAS harmed someone during its making. FAIL.

Heroin is an illegal substance that cannot be possessed under any circumstance. FAIL.

Explosives can’t be possessed except by those organizations or people with licenses for such. FAIL.



Guns are not explicitly illegal in the same ways those examples are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeglesias’ obsession with sending Black children and young men to jail for essentially statutory offenses (which is exactly what mere possession of gun, absent another associated crime IS) is racist AF.

Simply being in possession of a gun is not a violent crime in and of itself. It is abhorrent to send people to jail for nonviolent offenses.

If they shoot someone or commit a robbery or assault or some other violent crime, they should be prosecuted for that and the gun possession as well, and serve a commensurate sentence.

But simply possessing a gun illegally absent any other crime, especially a crime of violence, is just blatant naked racism designed to put Black males into the criminal justice industrial complex.

No-papering is EXACTLY what prosecutors should be doing. That’s what I support.

You are the one who brought up race. Nothing about this is racist. Get off your high horse. People with illegal guns belong in jail. Period. You are the reason the criminals are out in the streets carjacking people.

Hint: not everything is racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeglesias’ obsession with sending Black children and young men to jail for essentially statutory offenses (which is exactly what mere possession of gun, absent another associated crime IS) is racist AF.

Simply being in possession of a gun is not a violent crime in and of itself. It is abhorrent to send people to jail for nonviolent offenses.

If they shoot someone or commit a robbery or assault or some other violent crime, they should be prosecuted for that and the gun possession as well, and serve a commensurate sentence.

But simply possessing a gun illegally absent any other crime, especially a crime of violence, is just blatant naked racism designed to put Black males into the criminal justice industrial complex.

No-papering is EXACTLY what prosecutors should be doing. That’s what I support.

You are the one who brought up race. Nothing about this is racist. Get off your high horse. People with illegal guns belong in jail. Period. You are the reason the criminals are out in the streets carjacking people.

Hint: not everything is racist.

Carjacking someone is a violent crime.

Carrying a gun illegally is not.

You can carjack someone without a gun. You can carry a gun illegally without carjacking anyone or committing any violent crime. They are not the same things. One is a crime of violence with a victim and loss of property. The other is a violation of words on a paper.

You are obsessed with putting Black men and Black children in jail for nonviolent offenses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeglesias’ obsession with sending Black children and young men to jail for essentially statutory offenses (which is exactly what mere possession of gun, absent another associated crime IS) is racist AF.

Simply being in possession of a gun is not a violent crime in and of itself. It is abhorrent to send people to jail for nonviolent offenses.

If they shoot someone or commit a robbery or assault or some other violent crime, they should be prosecuted for that and the gun possession as well, and serve a commensurate sentence.

But simply possessing a gun illegally absent any other crime, especially a crime of violence, is just blatant naked racism designed to put Black males into the criminal justice industrial complex.

No-papering is EXACTLY what prosecutors should be doing. That’s what I support.

You are the one who brought up race. Nothing about this is racist. Get off your high horse. People with illegal guns belong in jail. Period. You are the reason the criminals are out in the streets carjacking people.

Hint: not everything is racist.

Carjacking someone is a violent crime.

Carrying a gun illegally is not.

You can carjack someone without a gun. You can carry a gun illegally without carjacking anyone or committing any violent crime. They are not the same things. One is a crime of violence with a victim and loss of property. The other is a violation of words on a paper.

You are obsessed with putting Black men and Black children in jail for nonviolent offenses.

First of all, possessory offenses exist because criminality is more likely to be interrupted before rather than during an active offense. If a person is lawfully qualified and wants to carry a firearm in DC they can get a permit to do so. “Children” of any race have no business carrying guns. In any event, possessory offenses are not limited to firearms; possession of burglar tools comes to mind.

Second, and more importantly, your attribution of racist motives to the desire to see laws of general application enforced is unfounded and quite frankly borders on delusional. What ground is there to declare a particular racial group above the law so that laws of general application do not apply to them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeglesias’ obsession with sending Black children and young men to jail for essentially statutory offenses (which is exactly what mere possession of gun, absent another associated crime IS) is racist AF.

Simply being in possession of a gun is not a violent crime in and of itself. It is abhorrent to send people to jail for nonviolent offenses.

If they shoot someone or commit a robbery or assault or some other violent crime, they should be prosecuted for that and the gun possession as well, and serve a commensurate sentence.

But simply possessing a gun illegally absent any other crime, especially a crime of violence, is just blatant naked racism designed to put Black males into the criminal justice industrial complex.

No-papering is EXACTLY what prosecutors should be doing. That’s what I support.

My rational and well-trained (ie law-enforcement/military) spouse jumped through many very reasonable (to me) hoops in DC to obtain a permit, yet people are fine with illegal guns on the streets. The inconsistency is absolutely shocking to me.

[Anonymous]

1. Allow everyone in DC to carry a gun without a permit.

or...

2. Institute mandatory minimums.

It's absolutely insane to allow criminals to carry weapons with no fear while law abiding citizens have to live in fear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every time Matt does I good post I vow to go a week without laughing at him for getting knockout gamed and pretending it didn’t happen.

What does this even mean? What are you talking about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeglesias’ obsession with sending Black children and young men to jail for essentially statutory offenses (which is exactly what mere possession of gun, absent another associated crime IS) is racist AF.

Simply being in possession of a gun is not a violent crime in and of itself. It is abhorrent to send people to jail for nonviolent offenses.

If they shoot someone or commit a robbery or assault or some other violent crime, they should be prosecuted for that and the gun possession as well, and serve a commensurate sentence.

But simply possessing a gun illegally absent any other crime, especially a crime of violence, is just blatant naked racism designed to put Black males into the criminal justice industrial complex.

No-papering is EXACTLY what prosecutors should be doing. That’s what I support.

Hmmmm I dunno … 100% of the people I know manage to not be in possession of an illegal gun.
Maybe just … don’t do that? Hard to have sympathy when gun crimes are up by a huge percentage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeglesias’ obsession with sending Black children and young men to jail for essentially statutory offenses (which is exactly what mere possession of gun, absent another associated crime IS) is racist AF.

Simply being in possession of a gun is not a violent crime in and of itself. It is abhorrent to send people to jail for nonviolent offenses.

If they shoot someone or commit a robbery or assault or some other violent crime, they should be prosecuted for that and the gun possession as well, and serve a commensurate sentence.

But simply possessing a gun illegally absent any other crime, especially a crime of violence, is just blatant naked racism designed to put Black males into the criminal justice industrial complex.

No-papering is EXACTLY what prosecutors should be doing. That’s what I support.

You are the one who brought up race. Nothing about this is racist. Get off your high horse. People with illegal guns belong in jail. Period. You are the reason the criminals are out in the streets carjacking people.

Hint: not everything is racist.

Carjacking someone is a violent crime.

Carrying a gun illegally is not.

You can carjack someone without a gun. You can carry a gun illegally without carjacking anyone or committing any violent crime. They are not the same things. One is a crime of violence with a victim and loss of property. The other is a violation of words on a paper.

You are obsessed with putting Black men and Black children in jail for nonviolent offenses.

Couldn’t the same thing technically be said for bombs or weapons of war?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeglesias’ obsession with sending Black children and young men to jail for essentially statutory offenses (which is exactly what mere possession of gun, absent another associated crime IS) is racist AF.

Simply being in possession of a gun is not a violent crime in and of itself. It is abhorrent to send people to jail for nonviolent offenses.

If they shoot someone or commit a robbery or assault or some other violent crime, they should be prosecuted for that and the gun possession as well, and serve a commensurate sentence.

But simply possessing a gun illegally absent any other crime, especially a crime of violence, is just blatant naked racism designed to put Black males into the criminal justice industrial complex.

No-papering is EXACTLY what prosecutors should be doing. That’s what I support.

You are the one who brought up race. Nothing about this is racist. Get off your high horse. People with illegal guns belong in jail. Period. You are the reason the criminals are out in the streets carjacking people.

Hint: not everything is racist.

Carjacking someone is a violent crime.

Carrying a gun illegally is not.

You can carjack someone without a gun. You can carry a gun illegally without carjacking anyone or committing any violent crime. They are not the same things. One is a crime of violence with a victim and loss of property. The other is a violation of words on a paper.

You are obsessed with putting Black men and Black children in jail for nonviolent offenses.

These are luxury beliefs pushed by privileged white people and despised by those of us living in areas plagued by crime.

FYI - armed carjacking on benning road this morning. It’s not safe out there even on a Sunday morning.