Gang member shoots two people – gets 15 months in prison

Want to know what’s wrong with gun laws in New York? Just check out what this liberal judge did during the sentencing phase for a gang member who shot up a neighborhood … he blamed society.

With good behavior, Crip gang member Francis Benjamin will only serve about 15 months in prison. The judge felt bad for him – since society failed him – and gave him a 42 month sentence.

“You turned to a gang for family support, for support in your life. And that is where we are failing as a society,” [Judge Michael] Gary said last week at the sentencing. “You are a nobody in terms of that gang. You are literally an instrument of somebody who has far more power than you.”

Benjamin, 21, had been charged with two counts of attempted murder after firing a .43-caliber handgun 11 times at a rival gangbanger and two other men sitting on a stoop in East Flatbush, court papers say.

Benjamin has earned what will be his new role in the Crips when he gets out of jail in 15 months. He was a criminal. He did not legally own the gun and did not have a permit to carry. He did not go through a background check. He couldn’t give a damn about magazine capacity limits. The law is irrelevant to criminals.

He hit one man in the scrotum and leg and another in the chest, but also sent bullets flying into nearby homes where children were present. …

Over prosecutors’ objections, Gary gave him 3¹/₂ years for remaining assault and gun charges, paving the way for him to be released in February 2016.

So a gang member criminal who purposely shoots people and shoots into a residential building during a drive-by will only spend 15 months in prison if he behaves himself. Let’s be clear, 15 months in prison for a 22 year old gang member is nothing to them. It’s a resume builder in the gang world and we all know it.

Anti-gun politicians are fine with this sentence. They would rather spend thousands of hours creating legislation that takes freedom and rights from the law-abiding, instead of implementing strong legislation to punish criminals and let gangs become stronger in cities across the nation.

Sidebar: The Post’s article mentions the gang member was a native of Trinidad, but does not mention if he was a citizen, legal resident or illegal alien.

Sidebar 2: Anyone know where one can pick up a .43 caliber semi-auto handgun?

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

10 Comments

  1. Dimsdale on November 4, 2014 at 9:02 am

    But God forbid a registered, law abiding gun owner (all three of them) in NYC shoots someone; that same pack of anti gun pols would be prosecuting the daylights out of them.

    Welcome to the illogical, topsy-turvy world of liberals, where good is bad, bad is good, and the laws only apply to certain groups.



  2. Shared Sacrifice on November 4, 2014 at 10:32 pm

    I’m surprised the gun and every party in the supply chain were not assigned equal blame! Stumbled on a site about Americans killed by illegals- like Uncle Omar driving drunk, or dreamers beating old veterans and stealing their cars… http://www.illegalimmigrationcosts.com/



  3. bien-pensant on November 5, 2014 at 7:43 am

    Benny is on to crime college to make contacts, network and hone his criminal skills. He’ll be out and putting his newly acquired education to work in less than 3 1/2 years with the prog programs in prison.
    The gun laws are not on the books to curtail criminals, they are there to hasten confiscation of law-abiding citizens’ firearms.
    As noted, criminals could care less about the latest gun laws. They simply don’t apply to them or they are plea-bargained away.



  4. Shared Sacrifice on November 5, 2014 at 7:06 pm

    Maybe Benny will become a lawyer, constitutional scholar, have his records expunged and sealed, and then move on to the political mafia- I mean arena.



  5. ricbee on November 12, 2014 at 5:46 pm

    .43 caliber? Wonder where he gets his bullets?



    • stinkfoot on November 13, 2014 at 11:51 am

      Bloomberg makes them in his spare time.



    • bien-pensant on November 13, 2014 at 5:34 pm

      .43 is a common caliber for paintball guns. But, that is way too technical for anti-gunners and the common gun-grabber to grasp. (Like, dude, there’s a difference?)
      Oh, .43 is also close to the ubiquitous 11mm rifle cartridges common in Europe during the 1800s when black powder was the propellant of choice.
      Like most lefties, he makes up “information facts” out of his fertile, deluded imagination.



    • ricbee on November 14, 2014 at 9:02 am

      I’m still baffled,did he convert a “paintball”gun to fire real bullets or did he shoot paintballs?



    • bien-pensant on November 15, 2014 at 8:15 am

      No, my guess is the original “journalist” who wrote the story has no knowledge of firearms and simply made up stuff.



    • ricbee on November 15, 2014 at 8:56 am

      I kinda thought that too,but once something in an article is believed false,the rest is viewed with skepticism-at least by me.



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