The governors of Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Virginia wrote a letter Tuesday asking the territory to show mercy to the Americans arrested on the island.
The full story is that Turks and Caicos Islands has struggled against gun violence for years, so it passed much stricter gun laws in 2022. American tourists were violating this law by bringing guns and ammunition in their bags, but the courts in all of the previous cases recognized that prison was a harsh punishment for lapses like this, so they’d reduce the sentence to a fine. But it just kept happening, and perhaps in frustration, in February an appeals court ruled that the lower courts could not exercise that kind of discretion.
Given that those courts had been lowering the penalty to a fine, it seems unlikely that they’ll sentence people to long prison terms. (Any prison time does seem like an overreaction, but it also seems that the country got frustrated and wants to send a message about following its laws.)
Somebody goes on a hunting trip. Among other things they pack ammunition. The cardboard box of ammo breaks open and 100 rounds spill all over the inside of their bag. A year later they go on a different trip and bring the same bag with them, and there’s a loose round in the folds of the bag they don’t know about, but the dog sniffs it out.
That’s why I have separate bags and cases specifically for traveling with ammunition.
honestly they should be securing their fucking ammo better. cardboard boxes aren’t meant for travel. the packaging it’s sold in isn’t meant to stand up to abuse. stop pouring casings around your luggage and you’ll have an easier time with this.
Loose ammo can creep into all kinds of nooks when a box spills open. I’ve found rounds tucked into the fold of a range bag years after the spill.
this is why you don’t pleasure travel with your bang bang kit. spent almost a decade in the military, travelling CONSTANTLY, from training to war zones and all over for technical stuff - never ever tried to bring ammo onto an aircraft.
I’m saying that people screw up and explaining a simple way to avoid the same mistake.
Here on Lemmy saying that you have bags just for carrying ammunition will get you labeled as a baby-killing MAGA extremist because you’re so into guns you accessorize with custom luggage for your murder-toys.
I’m explaining that those ammo bags and cases are there specifically to avoid accidents just like this - not as a tacticool fashion statement.
Here on Lemmy saying that you have bags just for carrying ammunition will get you labeled as a baby-killing MAGA extremist because you’re so into guns you accessorize with custom luggage for your murder-toys.
or you know, you could be one of the 2 million people on reserve, guard or active duty. I had bags for both and even with that, never, ever brought home live or blank ammo. it’s a sensible precaution if you’re around lots of loose ammo, but also, if you take the time to check your shit it really isn’t rocket science.
You recognize the injustice of it, but still some individuals, who have not wronged anyone with their acts, should receive lengthy prison terms because you don’t like the perceived policies of the us.
Also let’s point out that there is absolutely zero evidence that these people are ‘ignoring’ the law. It seems they are just idiots who made dumb and careless mistakes. You just need to paint it way to justify the completely unjustifiable position of thinking individuals should be punished for the actions of their state.
Can I ask that you first explain to me why you think this mother, while travelling with her daughter, was intentionally trying to smuggle 2 rounds of ammo out of Turks and Caicos? If you can come up with a reasonable explanation for this, I’d be happy to answer your question.
You just need to paint it way to justify the completely unjustifiable position of thinking individuals should be punished for the actions of their state.
Top level poster was saying noone in the us gets a break, so these people from the us should not get a break.
They think that because the us has bad policies, these people should be punished.
Their position had less ( or even nothing ) to do with whether these actions should be punishable because they themselves are bad, their position is about them being punished as some kind of pay back for us policy.
I can easily follow that logic and I get it. The whole point is that the poster is arguing they deserve to be punished by arguing that people would be punished by the us system. What the us system does or does not do has zero bearing on whether this is just.
they went out of their way to patronize a country that does NOT invite firearms-tourism. why weren’t they smart enough or patriotic bang bang enough to travel someplace they could bring their stuff to?
tsk. poor decision making by them, poor judgement by the gun lovers in this thread who would see them skate on their crimes.
Yeah, no.
It seems that these Americans have discovered that they can’t just ignore the rule of law in other countries.
Let them deal with the consequences. Let them lose that American exceptionalism.
Nobody gets a free pass for breaking laws in America, so these Americans shouldn’t get a free pass for breaking laws in other countries.
I agree, but on the other hand 12 years? This sounds more like a 12 days crime…
The full story is that Turks and Caicos Islands has struggled against gun violence for years, so it passed much stricter gun laws in 2022. American tourists were violating this law by bringing guns and ammunition in their bags, but the courts in all of the previous cases recognized that prison was a harsh punishment for lapses like this, so they’d reduce the sentence to a fine. But it just kept happening, and perhaps in frustration, in February an appeals court ruled that the lower courts could not exercise that kind of discretion.
Given that those courts had been lowering the penalty to a fine, it seems unlikely that they’ll sentence people to long prison terms. (Any prison time does seem like an overreaction, but it also seems that the country got frustrated and wants to send a message about following its laws.)
yup. look at Haiti to see what lax gun controls lead to.
Please be trolling or bot. How could a sentient being write something this nonsensical…
Which word did you have trouble parsing sparky?
Loose ammo can creep into all kinds of nooks when a box spills open. I’ve found rounds tucked into the fold of a range bag years after the spill.
It’s exactly why my range bags and my travel bags nexer mix.
Are we talking about gummy bears or explosives?
If you let ammo lose around the house, you have MUCH bigger problems than travelling
Somebody goes on a hunting trip. Among other things they pack ammunition. The cardboard box of ammo breaks open and 100 rounds spill all over the inside of their bag. A year later they go on a different trip and bring the same bag with them, and there’s a loose round in the folds of the bag they don’t know about, but the dog sniffs it out.
That’s why I have separate bags and cases specifically for traveling with ammunition.
honestly they should be securing their fucking ammo better. cardboard boxes aren’t meant for travel. the packaging it’s sold in isn’t meant to stand up to abuse. stop pouring casings around your luggage and you’ll have an easier time with this.
this is why you don’t pleasure travel with your bang bang kit. spent almost a decade in the military, travelling CONSTANTLY, from training to war zones and all over for technical stuff - never ever tried to bring ammo onto an aircraft.
That’s exactly what I’m fucking saying.
so you agree they didn’t have an excuse. cool.
I’m saying that people screw up and explaining a simple way to avoid the same mistake.
Here on Lemmy saying that you have bags just for carrying ammunition will get you labeled as a baby-killing MAGA extremist because you’re so into guns you accessorize with custom luggage for your murder-toys.
I’m explaining that those ammo bags and cases are there specifically to avoid accidents just like this - not as a tacticool fashion statement.
or you know, you could be one of the 2 million people on reserve, guard or active duty. I had bags for both and even with that, never, ever brought home live or blank ammo. it’s a sensible precaution if you’re around lots of loose ammo, but also, if you take the time to check your shit it really isn’t rocket science.
You recognize the injustice of it, but still some individuals, who have not wronged anyone with their acts, should receive lengthy prison terms because you don’t like the perceived policies of the us.
Also let’s point out that there is absolutely zero evidence that these people are ‘ignoring’ the law. It seems they are just idiots who made dumb and careless mistakes. You just need to paint it way to justify the completely unjustifiable position of thinking individuals should be punished for the actions of their state.
Being an idiot doesn’t mean you’re exempt from the law. Who the fuck packs ammo to go to a different country?
Noone is saying they’re exempt from the law, only that it is clearly an injustice that someone go to jail for a decade for making a dumb mistake.
Do you really think the intent of the law is to send people to jail for accidentally carrying some ammo?
Tell me how you “accidentally” carry ammo in your luggage?
Can I ask that you first explain to me why you think this mother, while travelling with her daughter, was intentionally trying to smuggle 2 rounds of ammo out of Turks and Caicos? If you can come up with a reasonable explanation for this, I’d be happy to answer your question.
You first.
Obviously not a good faith question.
This isn’t punishment for actions of their state lol, this is punishment for their own actions.
The state didn’t tell them to put bullets in their luggage.
Yes, I understand this, and it’s not what I said at all. Not even remotely.
Let me break it down for you:
Top level poster was saying noone in the us gets a break, so these people from the us should not get a break.
They think that because the us has bad policies, these people should be punished.
Their position had less ( or even nothing ) to do with whether these actions should be punishable because they themselves are bad, their position is about them being punished as some kind of pay back for us policy.
Nope, this is a deliberate mischaracterization of the argument.
It goes like this:
1 - you’re not supposed to fly with loose ammo.
2 - many countries prohibit you visiting with ammunition.
3 - if you break a foreign nations laws, that nation can and will imprison you.
not calculus, it’s pretty fucking simple.
I can easily follow that logic and I get it. The whole point is that the poster is arguing they deserve to be punished by arguing that people would be punished by the us system. What the us system does or does not do has zero bearing on whether this is just.
ok, think of it this way then:
they went out of their way to patronize a country that does NOT invite firearms-tourism. why weren’t they smart enough or patriotic bang bang enough to travel someplace they could bring their stuff to?
tsk. poor decision making by them, poor judgement by the gun lovers in this thread who would see them skate on their crimes.
You might want to check your notes on that one…