Right decision, wrong reason

Webb aide had advantage we don't in getting a charge dropped

Editor's note: Thursday community columnist Robert Legge mistakenly ran in this space Wednesday. His column is available at StarExponent.com. We are running our usual Wednesday columnist, Brian Veazey, today. Both columns will be back on their regular days next week.

As reported last week by the Associated Press, the charges against Sen. Jim Webb's aide, Phillip Thompson, have been dropped. Thompson had been arrested March 26 for trying to enter a Senate office building with a handgun inside a piece of luggage. The questions about who owned the gun, and why it was in Thompson's satchel, will probably never be answered publicly. This outcome, we can theorize, will likely save the senator some embarrassment; it will certainly save Thompson a felony conviction.

This is the right result for the wrong reason. I don't want to see Webb embarrassed, nor do I wish to see his aide found guilty. The District of Columbia's gun laws are absurd, in my opinion, and likely unconstitutional, in the U.S. Court of Appeals' opinion, but the decision to drop the charges is dripping with the elitism that only a case involving a senator or celebrity could bring forth.

If you or I had been stopped for speeding in D.C. and been found to have a firearm in the glove box "completely inadvertently," to use Webb's description of the event, we'd be looking at a very tough row to hoe. The felony charge, attorney's fees, and trial would likely mess up our lives enough, not to mention possibly having our concept of reality upended in the federal prison system. Only a genie in a bottle would get our charges dropped.

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FIREARMS DEBATE: In the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, the opinion page in the Star-Exponent has carried quite a bit of correspondence about firearms. There's a hint of animosity in print and on the paper's blog - much like the "guest worker" debate - as the letters tend to be from opposite ends of the spectrum. Some folks are uncomfortable around guns and some are uncomfortable unless there's a gun around. 

While those are extreme positions, neither is right nor wrong. The measures each of us chooses to take for our own protection are as personal and unique as our choice of where to live or what to eat.

Home alarms, extra locks, big dogs, martial-arts training, and firearms are among the many options we have when we try to decide what's right for our situations. Make your choice; don't criticize your neighbor for his or hers.

But please remember that each of us is ultimately responsible to look out for ourselves.

An institute, business, or city with rules that force you to rely on others for protection is putting you at a distinct disadvantage.

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GEOGRAPHY SKILLS: From another AP report in early April: If you encounter trouble while driving, are your geography skills good enough to tell a 911 operator where you are- For too many, the answer is no, and the cell phone technology that can be used to pin down your location isn't uniformly deployed across the country. This positioning feature is most notably degraded, or even absent, in rural areas.

If you call 911 from the road, you need to be able to tell the operator what road you're on, and at what point on that road, such as a a cross street, a river, a mile marker, or the number on the house you might be stopped in front of.  Please humor me and quiz your family members about this. This simple skill can mean precious time in an emergency. 

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FOR PRESIDENT:  Regarding the 2008 presidential race, the mainstream media spends much time reporting on the financial health of the different candidate's organizations.

More money buys more advertising, but I don't think the average voter is swayed solely by "TV time."

I think reputation, values, and character are what makes the biggest difference. consider this: if Vice President Cheney decided he wanted to run for the top job, how much money would it take to get him elected-

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