On Monday, March 3, 2014 Federal Judge Christine M. Arguello sentenced Stevie Vigil, the young woman convicted of purchasing a gun for Evan Ebel, the man who murdered pizza delivery person Nate Leon and corrections chief Tom Clements, to a mere 27 months in prison.
A few points come to mind with regard to this case. First and foremost, none of the gun control laws passed last year would have prevented the crimes perpetrated by Ebel and Vigil. Not one. She purchased the gun through a legally mandated background check process but committed her crime when she lied on Form
4473 and subsequently gave the gun to Evan Ebel. As the facilitator of two murders and several attempted murders, she should have been prosecuted as an accessory and imprisoned for several years, not a mere two. It is beyond belief that the judge thought that Vigil had no knowledge of what the gun would be used for.
The second point I found interesting is when the judge stated that Ebel would have obtained a gun eventually. This is exactly the point that we Second Amendment advocates have been making all along with regard to expanded background checks – that criminals would always find a way to get the tools to commit their crimes. Thank you, Judge Arguello, for confirming this fact.
Third, this furthers the belief that Democrat lawmakers and judges seek to create more and higher barriers to legal gun ownership by law abiding citizens, then are soft on criminals who break the gun laws. Another point that we have been making is that instead of creating more laws, the legal establishment should do a better job of enforcing the ones already on the books. Enforcement includes appropriate punishments for breaking the law.
Judge Arguello has undermined the whole deterrent effect of the federal law regarding truthful answers on Form 4473. Incidentally, prior to the 2012 election, both Governor Hickenlooper and President Obama said exactly the same thing – we didn’t need more gun laws, we just needed to do a better job enforcing the ones we have. Based on their subsequent actions, we now know how truthful they were in making those statements.
Finally, Judge Arguello was recommended by Senator Salazar (D-Colorado) and appointed by President Obama (D-Entire Nation). From this I infer that a vote for a Democrat is (among other things) a vote for gun control and for leniency in sentencing those who break the law.
A sad day for Lady Justice.
By Richard D. Turnquist
March 4, 2014
