Statist Tools: Snares and Intimidation

Now you laugh "Snares -- yeah sure -- but intimidation? A Statist tool? Well Duh!"

Understand me. What could be more chilling than when a judge renders a verdict wherein it's clear he knows that your rights have been trampled by the state and he's not only fine with that, he rubs it in?

From the masterful headline (by Kevin Baker) at The Smallest Minority today we see a judge's comment "When dealing with guns, the citizen acts at his peril." When the judge added this snark when sentencing a hapless gun owner -- who got snared in anti-gun paperwork -- we witnessed the ugly state on the eve before it threatens to get uglier still.
This is what I imagine would happen if I got to confront the judge in this case:

• Me: "In this case, the peril was from the state and not the gun, and every body knows it."
• Judge: **Wink**

Oh, there's a whole lot more to this story too. This judge held back even the legal statutes requested twice by the jury during their deliberations. The victim, fatefully, was in the wrong state when his mother momentarily felt concern for her son.  Her maternal instincts led to his being ensnared by a law that no reasonable person would indict another citizen over unless they themselves were Statists. You can find the sickening details elsewhere -- they are really not my point. That's the snare part, and again, that everybody with any sense knows.

What's intimidating here is that the Judge, acting in most high-handed of Statist ways, wants the world to know that it's too damn bad for the victim here. That is what the State's victim -- and you by implication -- gets for figuring an individual really has any rights that a man in his position would honor.

Yes, it is possible that I am confusing intimidating with infuriating.

Hey you liberals: I think that your beliefs that judges always act mercifully are in need of serious review.

I personally think that this judge has displayed a lower sense of mercy than that of a common criminal. The common criminal doesn't pretend that he's punishing you for the sake of respect for the law.

I surely hope New Jersey allows its chief executive to commute sentences, and that Governor Christie overrides this injustice very soon.

******* GOOD NEWS UPDATE **Dec 21 2010*****

Christie Commutes Aitken's Gun Charge To Time Served