I like small government and low tax rates because I’m an economist.
But I’m a libertarian for a different reason. I don’t want government to have a lot of power because I don’t trust politicians and bureaucrats to treat people decently.
This is not just a theoretical concern. I have an entire page dedicated to people victimized by government thuggery.
Today, we’re adding another name to that list.
As documented by Billy Binion of Reason, Charles Foehner may spend the rest of his life in prison even though he did nothing wrong.
A New York City man is facing a mound of criminal charges and a sentence that would amount to life in prison after he shot and killed a man who…was attempting to mug him. …prosecutors have not attempted to indict Foehner, 65, on any homicide-related charge. The counts he’s facing…are related to criminal possession of various weapons, after police searched his apartment and found that only some of his firearms are licensed with the state. In other words, he is staring down decades behind bars for having guns that didn’t have the proper stamp of approval from bureaucrats, despite the government conceding that the practical use of his weapon—in service of protecting his life—was defensible. …Katz, who brought the charges, has described herself as a “progressive prosecutor.” …Foehner had fulfilled the licensing requirements for five of his firearms, meaning the state acknowledged and understood that he was an upstanding citizen. He had just neglected to do the same for the totality of his weapons collection—almost certainly a result of the procedure being time- and cost-intensive.
There are two things about the above excerpt that tell you everything you need to know.
- First, the government acknowledges that Foehner was acting in self defense when he was attacked, so there’s no issue of whether he has misused weapons.
- Second, Foehner fulfilled the onerous licensing requirements for five guns, so the government repeatedly gave him a stamp of approval as a gun owner.
Given these two uncontested facts, the only conclusion we can draw is that Foehner is being persecuted by a left-leaning prosecutor who has an ideological aversion to gun ownership.
Let’s hope the prosecutor has second thoughts, or that a judge tosses the case. If not, this is another example of why we need jury nullification.
