"Often a Precursor"

A man almost hits a thoughtless teenage girl with his car. He's angry and lectures her. He makes the mistake of grabbing her by the arm. Now he's a convicted sex offender.

"While acknowledging it might be 'unfair for [Barnaby] to suffer the stigmatization of being labeled a sex offender when his crime was not sexually motivated,' the court said his actions are the type that are 'often a precursor' to a child being abducted or molested."

Grab a kid, lose your guns. Plus be forever branded a pervert. And the court says it's his fault.

I can think of all kinds of "precursor" activities child molesters "often" engage in. Things like breathing, eating...

If that's the standard for a criminal conviction, especially one of this magnitude, we're all screwed.

There's no apparent distinction that says "restraint of a minor" charges couldn't be filed for grabbing your own kid to discipline him or her.

The girl's parents should have thanked the driver. Ironically, it seems if he had simply run over the girl and could prove it was accidental based on her carelessness, he would have been facing far less serious consequences.

Can Women Outshoot Men?

The July 1955 issue of GUNS Magazine is now online.