Just to clarify, I am talking about criminals such as sexual predators, murders, and repeat violent offenders (eg people who would have been executed anyways not that long ago), not just any petty criminal. All these guys are doing is sitting in prison, sucking up taxpayer money. If we let them out, they hurt or kill more people

I'm all for killing people who have committed those types of offenses, but if I recall, the appeals process leading up to the execution also costs a great deal of taxpayer money. I'm not sure how much it costs relative to staying in prison, just that it's way more expensive than you'd think. I'll have to Google it.

Again, though, that is all irrelevant. BurtReynolds is saying that we should kill or permanently imprison ANYONE who can't be trusted with firearms. That is impractical and too extreme.

You should read a article wrote by David Grann entitled "Trial by fire" that first appeared in the new yorker. Mistakes happen and just because a fancy talker can confince 12 people a man is guilty doesnt always make that man guilty...It might seem that we have a endless appeal system but that is for a reason. Sometimes "credible witnesses" are just people with their own agendas.

Agreed. There is such a thing as overkill. You don't have to be a psycopathic violent offender to not be able to own a gun. I know a guy who can no longer own a gun because he slapped his wife to stop her from beating (like kicking him in the ribs after smashing his head into the wall and him falling on the floor) their son. Does he deserve to die? No

Did Grann mention how much it costs taxpayers to put criminals through all of their various appeals at each level of the judiciary? I'm trying to find it, but I know I remember reading somewhere that it's a lot of money. This is, I believe, a big part of the reason that we don't execute more convicted killers in the U.S. (even though we still execute a shitload of people relative to most of the Western world).

EDIT: It turns out that the death penalty is actually cheaper than keeping a person in prison for life without parole, so I guess I was wrong.

I have a friend whose ex-boyfriend has PTSD (he did two tours Cav in Iraq), and he's prone to all sorts of paranoid fits and temper tantrums. She broke up with him, and at one point, he texted her and threatened to shoot her. Later (after his parents intervened), he finally apologized to her, and now he's in therapy. Personally, I don't want this dude to have guns given his current mental state, but I also don't think he needs to be imprisoned just because I don't trust him with weapons.

Well this is completely different. What you're describing is somebody caught up in the horrible clusterfuck that is domestic violence. The laws concerning that sort of thing are all fucked up and what should be a very clear cut case (she attacked the son, he moved to defend the son) is instead an idiotic boondoggle that has resulted in him being labeled the bad guy. He shouldn't have any sort of record for that, she is the one who should be locked away.

Right, but what about this:

You've said that people who can't be trusted with guns should be locked up. Don't you think that would be too extreme in this case?

He shouldn't be imprisoned, but he definitely shouldn't be "free". And by "not free" I don't necessarily mean institutionalized.

Then what do you mean? You're being too vague. And earlier, you specifically said that if somebody can't be trusted with a gun, they can't be trusted with freedom. By your standards, almost any of our veterans with PTSD would have to be locked up (bearing in mind that many guys who join the military tend to also be gun owners).

Couple of weeks ago I had to arrest a veteran for hitting his wife. The guy survived a tour each in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has an 80% disability. He's been diagnosed with PTSD and other physical injuries. But domestic battery is against the law and the circumstances surrounding the battery required me to take action.

He had a Mossberg Cruiser loaded with OO Buck in his bedroom when we got there. He was peaceful and went along quietly. Nice enough guy, but I knew about the shotgun on the way to his house. We talked on the way to the jail and we got along. But what happens if things go bad again after a few months and we have to go back. Only this time he isn't feeling so hospitable?

No solution and no suggestions. Just something I experienced a couple weeks ago. More and more of those men and women are going to be in our world and they will be a real presence for the next forty some years. Most of them will be fine and do their best to get on with their lives. We already have a few vets as officers with my department and they're great people.

My dad is a Vietnam veteran and started in law enforcment in 1970. Cops in the 70's and 80's found themselves having contact with many vets. They were always a presence during those twenty some years. Most were fine, but a few had issues.

Now I have a whole range of tools available to me in 2010 that dad did not have in 1974. Back then a cop had his straight stick, sap/blackjack, maybe tear gas and his sidearm. Also they didn't have the training and resources available to me and my fellow officers today. I've been able to prevent more than one inccident from going deadly thanks to my Taser, Pepper Spray, and handheld radio for example and we understand what the vets are going through. Back in the early seventies alot of the cops who were vets were from WWII and Korea and actually weren't all that sympathetic to the Vietnam guys. Probably effected they way they dealt with them at times. Just a guess though.

This time around things seem to be a little smoother. The country as a whole seems to treating the vets better. Big improvement over what my father and his fellow vets got when they came home. Certainly can't hurt at least.

Oh a sidenote here. It's been my experience that most vets are fairly easy to work with. The conditioning that one gets from the military (I include myself here even though I was a peactime soldier) makes one more affable to authority and rank. Most vets also tend to support the cops. They see us a cousin of sorts. And that's fine with me. I'll use any advantage I can to avoid violence.

Anyway just my two cents. This ,uh, situation isn't going to go away anytime soon.