Should crimes committed with guns be punished more severely? (illegal, weapons, crime)

[pch1013]

If not, why not?

According to gun-rights advocates, the overwhelming majority of gun owners are law-abiding, so they should have no trouble with "firearm enhancement" laws that impose extra penalties for crimes committed with guns, as opposed to those committed with knives, baseball bats, etc.

Right?

[rbohm]

here in arizona if you commit armed robbery, you get an automatic minimum of five years in prison if convicted, and no early release for good behavior.

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Crimes involving weapons are already punished more harshly than other crimes, what more do you want?

"Assault" vs "Assault with a deadly weapon"
"Robbery" vs "Aggravated Robbery"

[sharkhunter]

Its like making a crime committed against a minority a hate crime. Really? Its already illegal to kill someone why is it more illegal to kill an Arab or use a gun? Stupid liberal crap.

[pch1013]

Originally Posted by TheMoreYouKnow

Crimes involving weapons are already punished more harshly than other crimes, what more do you want?

Well, OK, so do you approve of that or not? Do you think crimes committed with firearms should be treated exactly the same as other crimes?

[pghquest]

They are already.. Ever hear crimes like

Assault with a deady weapon, rather than just assault without one?

[pghquest]

Originally Posted by pch1013

Well, OK, so do you approve of that or not? Do you think crimes committed with firearms should be treated exactly the same as other crimes?

Considering most people who committe crimes I would assume are using the weapons thats not their, ie, stolen, then of course they should be.

You nail them to the wall.. Its why our jails are full already

[pch1013]

Originally Posted by pghquest

They are already.. Ever hear crimes like

Assault with a deady weapon, rather than just assault without one?

At least one person here seems to think that distinction is "stupid liberal crap."

... and also, a "deadly weapon" can include a knife, a baseball bat, or even a car.

[hogfamily]

COLLINSVILLE, IL (KMOX) - The head of the National Rifle Association says St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay is wrong to try to take guns off the street but right on something else.
“You use a gun to commit a crime, go to prison. Period,” NRA President David Keene said, adding that we need tougher sentences for what he terms “gun criminals.”
“If you want to deal with gun crime, with violence in the streets, you have to go after the gangs,” he said. “You have to go after these people and you have to put them away. If you do that, you have some impact. If you don’t do it, you don’t
have the impact.” In response to a question posed by a KMOX News reporter, Keene said that, while he doesn’t know specifics of Slay’s ”gun docket” proposal, the idea behind it is spot-on.
“It’s been tested time and time again and proven that if you punish criminals who use firearms for criminal purposes then the use of firearms for those purposes is going to decrease dramatically.”
Keene says another way to drive down crime is to put more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens. Not surprisingly, Keene says that he and the NRA absolutely do not support gun buy-back programs, arguing that they have no impact whatsoever.
Keene was in Collinsville last Friday to speak with a group of Metro East Republicans about the Second Amendment.



NRA President Approves of (Part of) Mayor Slay’s Gun Strategy « CBS St. Louis

[Finn_Jarber]

No, and Florida law proves why. Some people are serving 15 year mandatory sentences only because a gun was involved in what they did, and in many cases no one was hurt. In the other hand such laws might make people think twice before flashing their guns. A warning shot in the air or in the ground can land you in prison for 15 years.