Better Late Than Never Doesn't Quite Apply

It's good that the Oakland County prosecutor is going after a murderer and seeking enhanced penalties for a the fact that the scumbag has a very long rap sheet of violent felonies and use of firearms in crime.

The Detroit News: Tougher penalty sought for man accused in Oxford Christmas Eve shooting

In December, after driving his car into a ditch, the felon in question went on a killing spree, shooting motorists who had stopped to assist him after his crash.

His list of crimes is rather extensive, the punishments for them not so much.

The kicker is that had the law been fully enforced on this criminal, he would still have been in jail and unable to kill anyone:

While in prison, Webb was also charged in 2019 with possessing weapons as a prisoner. He pleaded guilty in 2020. The conviction could have added another five years to his sentence, but the time was served concurrently with his previous sentence, leading to his July discharge from prison. 

In short, he was able to do a crime, while in prison no less for a slew of serious felonies, effectively for no penalty at all, and get out to commit multiple murders when he should have been in prison for that crime.

It's nice that the prosecutor is now declaring this is a case oif double secret probation and treating him as a "super habitual offender" - it's just a pity that he wasn't effectively punished and interdicted before he went off and shot a bunch of people.

Release Criminals, Let Them Kill, Call For Gun Control, Repeat

Note well the article subheading puts this under "What to know about the growing threat of gun violence".

The Detroit Free Press:  Suspects charged with murder, child kidnapping in Northfield Township tragedy

So Shuvonne Vinson along with her criminal associates breaks into a house, kills two of the three adults living there, wounds a third adult, and kidnaps 2 kids.

Clearly a gun violence problem, right?

Not so fast.

The buried lede of her criminal record and how she has been let off by a soft-on-crime criminal justice system gets let slip, a mere 21 paragraphs below the headline:

Vinson's previous criminal history includes a 2017 drug possession charge, which she pleaded guilty to, and a February 2024 case when she racked up 13 charges, the majority of them involving weapons. She ultimately pleaded guilty in June that year to carrying a concealed weapon. All other charges were dismissed, court records show.

So, in 2024 instead of a nice long time in jail, after getting hit with 13 charges all are dismissed in July, except for a felony concealed weapons charge.  She doesn't get much jail time for that, if she got any at all - she's then released and free to go out and about and participates in killing and kidnapping less than six months later.

This isn't a gun violence problem, this is a progressive judicial system releasing felons with mere slaps on the wrist until they go out and kill someone problem.

So How Many Laws Failed In The Highland Park Killings?

The City of Highland Park where the shooting took place bans "Assault Weapons" within the city.

To everyone's (assuming everyone is a progressive who claims gun control laws work) obvious surprise, it didn't work.

Even with the longstanding ban, an "Assault Weapon" (type still unknown) was clearly within the City of Highland Park and used for this attack as the killer just up and ignored the law.   

Clearly an impossibility as the City of Highland Park banned such, right?

The State of Illinois also has a much touted "red flag" law that, given the impressive history of violence and threats from the alleged killer, should have prevented him from having firearms.

To everyone's obvious surprise, it didn't work.  

The killer after threatening to kill people in 2019 had over 16 knives and swords taken from him and then was left free to go forth and purchase a firearm and do some killing.

This is the flaw with red flag laws that conservatives have pointed out time and time again: 

You take away present weapons but leave someone who you clearly believe is a deadly threat free to roam around, acquire other weapons, and commit deadly acts without any follow-up.  

Sounds like a great idea. 

Yet again this is another killer "known to police". 

The killer even released a video in 2021 showing him gunning down people in a parade.  Law enforcement and everyone else did nothing.

Good going there proponents of red flag laws, the laws "worked" exactly as you designed them to do, which is not well at all.

We can also note the 2019 incident led to him getting mental health treatment that likely should have disqualified him from buying firearms as he was a clear danger to himself and others, yet clearly the system let him slip by yet again.

With all this history he was still issued an Illinois Firearms Owners Identity Card and able to buy firearms with no hindrance. 

He then violated Illinois firearm transport laws to carry out his crime. 

He then, of course,  went on to repeatedly violate Illinois' laws against murder and attempted murder.

Big Surprise.

But never fear,  the prosecutor is now promising to charge him with “dozens more charges centering around each of the victims.”  

That's going to be super-effective and should really teach him not to kill people in the future, now won't it?