Look, you’ve got to be a total idiot to go out to night club in New York City with a loaded handgun and then accidentally shoot yourself in the thigh. I have no idea how New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress managed to do this. But the only person that got hurt is Plaxico. How can it be that he is facing a mandatory minimum sentence of three and half years in prison? That’s insane. And Mayor Bloomberg says it would it be a gross injustice not to prosecute him the furthest extent of the law.
Before you protest, the 3 1/2 year mandatory sentence isn’t a result of Burress discharging his weapon. It’s the penalty for possessing the weapon. How can you send a man to jail for 42 months for carrying a firearm in public? He’s an idiot and a minor danger to society, but he’s not a hardened criminal.
I can support some jail time considering that he did discharge his weapon in public. Maybe 90 days, maybe six months, tops. Is there any other municipality in the country that would put a man in prison for years for shooting himself in the thigh?
