COURT WISE TO STAND FIRM ON GUNS

To better protect communities against the rising tide of gun violence,
the U.S. Congress authorized judges to impose tougher sentences on
felons who use firearms while committing a crime.

Thousands of criminals are now behind bars as a result of that 1998
federal sentencing guidelines. Fortunately, the Supreme Court decided
Monday to keep them there.

A divided court said judges can decide whether defendants used guns in
their crimes and, if so, consider imposing stiffer sentences. Justice
Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the majority, said, "These facts,
though stigmatizing and punitive, have been the traditional domain of
judges."

The 5-4 decision represented a close call for federal prosecutors who
risked seeing sentencing arrangements overturned and a flood of
inmates seeking early release.

It's become common for federal prosecutors to gain convictions for
drug dealing and then to ask the judge to consider a stiffer sentence
because the defendant was armed. The presence of a gun, not
necessarily its use in the crime, has been sufficient to enable a
judge to lengthen the prison time.

The case before the high court involved a New Mexico pawnbroker who
pleaded guilty three years ago to selling marijuana from his pawn
shop. Because the man wore a pistol in a holster, the judge in the
case also convicted him of brandishing a gun while engaged in drug
trafficking and sentenced him to the Congress-mandated sentence of
seven years in prison.

The pawnbroker's attorneys argued that the sentence violated their
client's constitutional rights to due process and a jury trial.

The Supreme Court disagreed, saying that while it falls to juries to
determine beyond a reasonable doubt whether a crime was committed, it
is well within the sentencing judge's purview to decide whether a gun
was involved. With this decision, the Supreme Court preserves an
effective legal tool in the nation's efforts to curb gun violence.