Judge: “Everyone’s arming themselves to what end?”
"The fact of the matter is it [having a gun] doesn’t make you safer. It may be more dangerous.”
Charlottesville Circuit Judge Claude Worrell recently decided he was going to spend some time thinking about what kind of sentence to give an 18-year-old charged with live-streaming himself on Facebook last November at the playground at Westhaven with a pistol and a semi-automatic rifle that resembled an AR-15. On the one hand, he’s a teenager who has made mistakes, and witnesses have testified about his kindness and good character; even prosecutors have acknowledged that he’s an “incredible, young individual.” On the other hand, those same prosecutors are recommending a 12 to 18 months jail sentence. “We’ve had way too many cases, your honor, with young individuals who shouldn’t have them [guns],” said the prosecutor, according to a story about the latest hearing in the Daily Progress.
“Mr. Hill, I’m at a loss for what to do,”…
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