Billybones wrote:
Geez. I'm been aware of the Viktor Bout case. It does seem like kind of a reach, another case in which the long arm of American law pursues someone who never set foot in the United States. My understanding is that Mr. Bout is facing a life sentence in the U.S. because he supplied arms to the Colombian FARC, which has been listed as a "terrorist" organization by the U.S. State Department. It isn't the first time, & surely won't be the last, in which the U.S. arrogantly imposes the principle of extraterritoriality - the notion that its laws apply anywhere in the world where the U.S. presumes to have an interest. It has similarities to an even more outrageous case: Marc Emery, a Canadian citizen & Marijuana Party activist who was extradited to the U.S. and sentenced to 5 years in prison for violating U.S. drug laws, even though he never set foot in the U.S. & never was charged with a crime in Canada.
If anyone is interested, check this link -
Free Marc Emery.
That said, it's a bit of a stretch to use the Bout case to feed the meme that Obama is hostile to gun rights. Since taking office, he has done NOTHING to impinge on the rights of gun owners, yet all we ever hear is "Obama's gonna take away our guns, gonna take away our freedom" blah, blah. Even crazier, we see this run on ammunition as people stock up out of fear that the government is going to come & confiscate everyone's weaponry. If you don't have facts on your side, just make stuff up & people who are so inclined will believe anything. Yes, America's gun culture has become completely unhinged.
You should note that Americans are probably the best protected people on this planet. I recall when I grew up in a third world country, some burglar killed an American citizen who was working there. The US government did not let up until the perp was caught, convicted and locked up.
I am not familiar with the case, but if the activities of that Emery fellow did hurt one or more American citizens, whether it is within the US borders or outside, he had it coming.