Dox47 wrote:
Nope. Something is criminal or it isn't; the offender's personal beliefs shouldn't come into it at all.
There are two people separate cases but same crime on the same day.
One of these people is called Dox47 and one of this people is called Mohammed.
Both of these people were stopped by police and found to have a number of guns and significant amounts of ammunition on them.
Dox47 has been a gun rights enthusiast for years is licensed for many types of firearms, teaches gun safety at the local range for free and was carrying guns he claims to attend a gun safety event where he would demonstrate how to safely handle a variety of weapons.
It turns out that Dox's big machine gun was manufactured illegally in 1987 and had false paperwork. When Dox47 purchased the firearm in 2004 he had complied with all relevant laws and was the victim of fraud, the previous owners had lied about the date of manufacture.
But the law is the law and Dox47 is now illegally in possession of class three firearm.
Muhammed was stopped with a similar class of weapon in his possession, Muhammed had never applied for a gun licence and the weapon had been smuggled into the country and provided to him by a terrorist group. When asked Muhammed says he had intended to use the weapon to open fire on the fourth of july parade killing as many people as possible because he hates America and is willing to give up his life blah blah blah.
Both Dox47 and Muhammed at this point have committed an identical crime do you really think they both deserve equal punishment in the eyes of the law?
PS, I am not an expert in american law so please don't bother informing me of some technicality that Dox47 or Muhammed has in the description of their case that changes things completely. It is a thought experiment about whether or not a person's belief should influence the application of law.