Yesterday, President Obama commuted the sentences of 214 people serving federal prison sentences. Mr. Obama has granted a total of 562 commutations — a number the White House says is more than the previous nine presidents combined.
Many of those whose sentences Mr. Obama previously commuted were convicted of firearm-related offenses. Earlier this year, Sen. Richard Shelby complained that 12 of the 61 recipients (just under 20 percent) of one batch of Obama commutations fell into this category. Coupled with previous grants of leniency, Mr. Shelby estimated that 17 percent of the commutations had gone to criminals who violated firearms laws.
It stands to reason that, as Mr. Obama reaches into the bottom of the barrel looking for more drug law offenders to release, the percentage of convicts guilty of firearms offenses will increase. So it has.
The list of the latest commutations includes, by my count, 55 prisoners convicted of firearms violations. That’s more than 25 percent.
Check out the second name on the list, Asher Adams. Here’s what he was in prison for:
Offense: Distribution of methamphetamine and aiding and abetting (two counts); distribution of methamphetamine (three counts); use or carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking crime (two counts); distribution of more than 100 grams of methamphetamine (two counts).
As Bill Otis says, “packing heat while dealing meth; what could go wrong?”
Now consider the case of Richard Reid:
Offense: Felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition (five counts); possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense; possession with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of a cocaine base (crack); possession with the intent to distribute cocaine; possession of crack cocaine; possession of marijuana.
Why is President Obama so eager to have this gun-toting charmer loose our streets?
Democrats claim to be hellbent on preventing criminals from obtaining guns. It’s a worthy goal, but I very much doubt that guns can be kept out of the hands of folks who are in a position to commit crimes.
We can, though, make sure that criminals who have been convicted of gun law violations aren’t in a position to commit crimes during the duration of their sentence. Yet, Mr. Obama prefers, in many cases, not to.
As Sen. Shelby asked Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch:
[H]ow the President can say he is “committed to using every tool at the Administration’s disposal to reduce gun violence” when his own Administration is not even following through with the sentences of criminals with firearm-related convictions.
Answer: The president is dishonest.
Finally, we know that Islamists have made inroads in radicalizing America’s prison population. For example, Alton Nolen who beheaded an Oklahoma woman while shouting passages from the Koran, is believed to have converted to Islam and become radicalized while behind bars.
I would like to know what steps the administration took to make sure that its jailbreak does not extend to potential terrorists.
Mr. Mirengoff writes for www.powerlineblog.com
