Island Richards

This week, justice was served. A man who kidnapped, robbed, and brutally beat another man to death, simply because of the victim’s sexual orientation, faced a jury of his peers and lost. His act of savagery drew him convictions and sentences for one count of second degree murder, one count of felony murder, kidnapping, and aggravated robbery. He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without the possibility or parole, and only avoided the death penalty at the bequest of the victim’s family. He will spend every remaining day of his life behind bars.

This day is marked by victory two-fold. First, it was a championship title in the battle between law abiding citizens and the criminals who seek to terrorize them. This time, with the help of our unequalled system of justice, law abiding citizens were triumphant and took home the belt. Secondly, it was a victory over a growing state of confusion in our nation that has our citizens and our leaders leaning toward the belief that we need more restrictive laws to protect us from the criminals who terrorize us.

Wyoming didn’t need hate crimes legislation to convict Aaron McKinney of murder. He did that himself when he pistol whipped an innocent man to death in an act so brutal, and so savage, that it sparked a wave of hate crimes legislation all across the country. Wyoming, who took a huge public relations beating for not having hate crimes legislation intact, stood firm during its next legislative session and refused to pass new, useless laws. As a result, Wyoming took on even more attacks from the liberal press. The fact, though, remains clear: Wyoming’s laws are sufficient to punish a murderer without enacting new feel-good laws that serve only to appease special interest minorities and that would make no difference at all in the protection of the general public and the common good.

Simply put, Robbery is robbery, assault is assault, and murder is murder. Juries should punish people for the acts they commit, and let the perpetrator’s god punish them for the hate they hold in their hearts. Undue restrictions on law-abiding citizens will never stop, or even slow down, the violence we find on America’s streets. Laws that give the government more and more freedom to interfere with, and spy on, the American public are ever more prevalent in today’s legislative chambers, and laws that restrict the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms are becoming ever more restrictive. Now this new wave of laws that attacks every individual’s right to the freedom of thought and speech, in the name of protecting the common good, has creeped into our nations legal system. Sadly, every one of these laws that exist in the name of protecting our individual rights do just the opposite. These laws, one by one, are chipping away at the very freedoms that make America the unique country that it is.

Over two hundred years ago, our forefathers realized that the British vision of America’s future was wrong. Why, today, do we seem to be so intent on abandoning that realization, and once again following in England’s, and the rest of Europe’s, footsteps? Gun control has never worked for them or for any other country who chose to enact it. The same goes for laws violating the citizenry’s privacy and laws restricting individual freedom of thought and speech.

Every right that we have we should hold dear, because every right that we have is a building block on which every other right is built. Each one that is taken away harms the foundation which supports the rest. With time, and enough chipping away, the whole structure will fall right into our laps, and we will find that we no longer have any rights at all.

Peace,

Wisdom