Mentel Cases Volume One: The Case of the Neighborhood AK-47s

By Ken Hanson

We here in the Mentel Ward managed to convince our wardens to allow us to watch some television the other day, so you can imagine our shock in learning of a recent failure of the Mentel Ban on assault weapons in the City of Columbus.

You might recall that under the ban, any center fire rifle that accepts a magazine is considered an "assault weapon". Other features, depending upon the media coverage you are reading, include the ability to spray tens of thousands of armor piercing rounds per pull of the trigger and the ability to make an otherwise law-abiding citizen instantly commit crimes they were not otherwise inclined to commit.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, an overwhelming 115 people out of 730,000 in Columbus complied with the Mentel ban and registered firearms for later destruction, so it appears that the following case should be easily solved...

Channel 4 in Columbus is reporting that neighborhood drug thugs apparently did not like the fact that their neighbors took matters into their own hands and installed some security cameras to document the late-night commerce occurring in the neighborhood. These same drug thugs expressed their displeasure by apparently firing at least one round into the neighbor's house.

NBC4i.com goes on to report that shortly after the shooting, the drug house disgorged armed men who proceeded to dump firearms throughout the neighborhood including three pump shotguns and (wait for it) four AK-47s. Police have yet to find these same men.

As humble citizens, we in the Mentel Ward would suggest the police simply go to city hall and look up the registration records to find out who owned these guns. Time to put this powerful crime-fighting tool to use. Case solved!

We are so certain that Councilman Mike Mentel's ban has worked as designed, we will not even bother to point out that these drug lords violated numerous felony laws already on the books (most with three year mandatory gun specifications) such as: shooting into a habitation, shooting across a roadway, felonious assault, firearms with drug dealing, firearms under disability.

And we'd hate to diminish this success story by pointing out that when the police follow the registration records to the bad guys, the drug thugs will never do a day of time for violating the Mentel Ban due to mandatory concurrent time between misdemeanors and felonies.

For those of you keeping track, the first quarter score on the Mentel ban is: Millions of lost NRA convention dollars, 115 out of 730,000 people registering firearms (someone please calculate that percentage and email it to me, as my calculator cannot seem to compute that tiny fraction of a number), and what we are sure is the imminent arrest of the drug lords NBC reported on.

Great work Mike, keep it up.

About the author:
Ken Hanson is the Legislative Chair of Buckeye Firearms Association, a general practice attorney in Delaware, Ohio, and is involved in gun rights cases throughout Ohio. Ken has previously served as a Chief Assistant County prosecutor, and currently serves as a prosecutor for two municipalities. Ken is an NRA Certified Instructor and teaches CCW classes for Ohio and Utah licensing.

***

Do you think the Columbus Assault Weapons Ban is insane? Do you believe residents are crazy to permit a do-nothing law like this? Admit yourself to the “Mentel Ward” and help us monitor gun crime in the city to show how Mentel’s ban is a total failure. You can submit stories and information and read comments by the other inmates. Click here now to check yourself in to the Mentel Ward.