On Mon, Jun 30, 1997 at 06:37:56PM -0700, Lucky Green wrote:
The idea is that the criminal has received their punishment once released from prison.
OTOH, there is no necessity at all to think of it that way. Prison isn't the only punishment -- there is nothing in the Constitution or anywhere else that says that. (Certainly, not being able to own a gun is in no meaningful sense a "cruel or unusual" punishment.) A court that can impose a life sentence can impose a lifetime ban on certain activities -- there is nothing at all inconsistent here. Another fallacy is to think that prison is a temporary phenomenon. "Been to prison" is a permanent state -- it marks you for life. "Convicted Felon" is a permanent legal condition, a title with permanent social effects. You are probaboy thinking that after a person has "paid their debt to society" things are just like they were before. It's a nice theory, but it's false. It's not like money. Your "debt to society" is not paid off by a prison term.
Any further infringements on the person's rights are unacceptable. That includes the person's Natural Right to acquire fully-automaticweapons, should he so desire. [BTW, the nature of the crime committed is irrelevant].
"Let the punishment fit the crime". The crime is *always* relevant to the punishment, the punishment is *always* a function of the crime. It is incoherent and unjust to think otherwise. A punishment can certainly infringe your "Natural Rights" -- you can be executed, after all. -- Kent Crispin "No reason to get excited", kent@songbird.com the thief he kindly spoke... PGP fingerprint: B1 8B 72 ED 55 21 5E 44 61 F4 58 0F 72 10 65 55 http://songbird.com/kent/pgp_key.html