Guilty as charged - but the law stinks!

An 85 year old man is facing a 5 year prison term for simply being in possession of something. Yes that's right it's guns again, but this story has some strange twists. You can read the report here.

The stupidity of the law and how it is applied is exemplified by these extracts;

Firstly the guns are an interesting mix.


.Percy Hermitage............. admitted possessing an automatic-loading pistol with a barrel of less than 30 centimetres, without the authority of the Secretary of State.
He similarly admitted having a Saxby and Palmer .177 self-contained gas cartridge air pistol, and a .22 double action revolver, both without authority.
Hermitage further admitted possessing a Victor .22 calibre rifle* and two .22 calibre rounds of ammunition, both without certificates.
Finally, he admitted possessing a hollow point bullet without authority.

All small calibre, as indicated, that would suggest a use in small vermin control and/or target shooting, there is no suggestion that these weapons have been used in any crime either by the owner or by anyone else.

He has had them for while too!

Hermitage is said to have had the weapons since the 1960s.

So there has been no problem with these guns for around fifty years or so and I cannot see any hint of these  guns being used in any way let alone in the commission of a crime. Yet it seems that sentencing an 85 year old to spend possibly the rest of his life in prison is deemed the correct thing to do. Sorry, but that is wrong. This  case is about having something in your possession and not using it rather than using it to threaten or harm someone or carry out a robbery. Perhaps he should have beaten someone up, he could have walked free then if he had said sorry!

Julia M has an example of more gun related police idiocy reported  here


*This may be an air rifle - I'll need to check