Back in January, 42 year old Ronnie Kindred, a man from the upscale suburb of Hoffman Estates, IL failed to make payments on his Cadillac or his Isuzu SUV. Eventually a repossession team was sent to take back the vehicles. The repo team recovered one vehicle, and went to the man’s door to inform him of the repossession. No one answered the door at first, but then moments later Kindred came out of his house only to slip on the ice. The repo employee went over to him to see if he was injured, only to have Kindred pull a gun on the employee and order him to unhook the vehicle. Since IL bans concealed carry, the law ensured that only Kindred was armed, and his victims were defenseless. The employee acted as though he was going to unhook the vehicle, but hopped in his truck and escaped. Kindred fired 5 or 6 shots at the escaping repo team. For threatening the lives of the repo team, and opening fire on them, Kindred received only 30 days in jail for this felony conviction (and will likely serve only 15 days, since Illinois does day-for-day good time).
Anti gun politicians like to blame inanimate objects for the actions of criminals. In reality, it is those criminals who are to blame, as a gun can do no harm absent the intentional or reckless actions of a human being. However in some cases, while the criminal is still the most culpable for their crime, our legal system drops the ball, and allows the criminal to go on to harm future victims. An example of this is the Wilmette, IL murders & suicide which occurred in March 2009. In that case, a man named Richard C. Wiley stabbed his wife to death after becoming angry with her, and while the prosecutor asked for an 80 year sentence, the judge sentenced Wiley to 30 years, and he ended up serving under 15 years in prison before being paroled. After Wiley was released, he ended up marrying another woman, who had a son from a previous marriage. After becoming jealous and angry with his new wife over her (completely innocent) plans for the evening, he murdered her and then her son, using a gun that he (as a convicted felon, and as someone with no FOID card) was forbidden by multiple laws to even touch.
Getting back to the current example of Ronnie Kindred, who opened fire on the repo team, I find his 30 day sentence to be much too light for such a serious crime. He put the employees in fear for their lives, in order to try and keep vehicles that he had no right to retain, due to his failure to pay his bills. He fired multiple shots, which could have either killed these employees, or innocent people in nearby houses. Kindred’s actions were deplorable, and the slap-on-the-wrist sentence that he received does violence to the principles of justice upon which our legal system is founded.
And this comes as a surprise to whom? I imagine a thorough search of Illinois criminal uses of weapon charges vs. plea negotiations would be shocking. I know that in my part of the state the weapons charges are the first to be tossed in order to get a plea on another charge, usually one that involves fines and probation, or community service. My idea of community service is LOCK THE S.O.B. UP! Consecutive, not concurrent sentences!
It's just sick that he will probably do it again, but maybe not with a gun. This is the same kind of mentality behind arson. Hopefully, that court took his guns away – he has no business owning something like that! It has nothing to do with gun control – if I used my car as a weapon or drove on the sidewalk and almost hit someone, I certainly shouldn't be allowed to drive! The gun control advocates in their ivory towers want to prevent anyone from owning them in first place, regardless of reality. I think it's a fear issue if a politician is afraid of citizens having a gun. It seems to show what they think of voters. "Feed them BS and keep them in the blind… and certainly don't arm them. They might get the idea that they are in charge!"