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by Nomad
Sometimes you hear some thing on the news that makes you think the world has gone nuts. Here's a story I saw from Nebraska news.
A judge at the Seminole County Courthouse in Nebraska ruled that, despite his reservations, the law was the law. After the acquittal of John Rogers in a deadly shooting, Rogers sued the court for the return of his weapon. Rogers, it should be mentioned, is legally blind.
The weapons were confiscated by police after Rogers was arrested in the shooting death of 34-year old James Dewitt in March 2012.
The judge saıd that in the end, it was the law and that justice was done.
At the trial, Rogers was granted immunity and acquitted of the murder charges through the stand-your-ground law. In his testimony Rogers claimed that Dewitt, an overnight guest, had been drinking, had woken up and began attacking him. The news reports gives us the rest of the story:
DeWitt got on top of him and pummeled him, but Rogers managed to get away, he said, went into a back room, got his rifle and ordered DeWitt to leave."He came running at me, telling me he was going to kill me," Rogers said, "then it happened."
A former Marine, Rogers has been legally blind since a construction accident in 2001 and still retains some of his eyesight. The guns were purchased before the accident. He told reporters he needs his guns, a ten millimeter Glock and a hunting rifle. Says Rogers:
It's my constitutional right, first of all. Second of all, I wasn't carrying these firearms around. I was in my house, on five acres on a private road in Geneva, out of the way."
He declared:
" I have a right to protect myself.".
This is the first time Rogers
Rogers has two prior arrests. In 2010, he used a handgun to fire 15 rounds at his cousin, Michael Rogers, with whom he'd gotten into a fight following a night of drinking, a report said.Michael Rogers suffered scrapes but no gunshot wounds. John Rogers was arrested on an aggravated assault charge but wound up pleading no contest to a lesser charge — unlawfully displaying a firearm – and was placed on probation.
In another incident, Rogers was
arrested and spent a couple of months in jail.
That was revoked about a year later when he was arrested for pushing and punching a woman, an act that sent him to jail for 71 days, records show.
Outside the courthouse, Rogers said:
I feel like I have, you know, been through enough myself. So i would like to just retire and put this behind me and move forward.
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Just a question.
Since Rogers has been legally blind for 13 years, aren't there any laws that require gun owners to re-apply for their licenses? Or does that only happen at the time of purchase? Wait.. perhaps eye testing doesn't even happen at the time of purchase. Many states require eye tests when you renew your driver's license but now I see New York has even dropped this idea in 2011!
The world has gone mad.
