The arrest of an NFL veteran is showcasing just how incoherent and unjust California‘s gun control regime is.
Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Denzel Perryman was pulled over on his way to a gun range by Los Angeles County Sheriff deputies, who found rifles in his car that violate California law. He spent the weekend in jail, but he is not going to face any charges for the incident.
That is no doubt good news. Perryman has spent time with NFL teams in North Carolina, Nevada, and Texas over the years, and the guns that got him arrested were no doubt legal in most or all of those states. Perryman was not in the process of committing any sort of crime with those guns, and he does not appear to have a criminal record. But Perryman being arrested, imprisoned, and ultimately not charged raises a few questions about why Perryman is not being charged.
Is it because Perryman is a wealthy man in a high-profile profession? According to Over the Cap, Perryman has over $26 million in career earnings. He played 11 games for the Chargers last year and had the backing of Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh, who visited him in jail. Is this an example of California’s “justice system” applying different standards to the rich than everyone else? Would a normal person arrested in Perryman’s situation also avoid being charged?
WILL ‘NOT ANTI-GUN AT ALL’ NEWSOM BAN HANDGUNS IN CALIFORNIA?
If the answer to that last question is “no,” then California is only applying its gun control laws to people who do not have the resources and publicity to fight back. But if the answer is “yes,” then what is the point of the law in the first place? What is the point of making the act of possessing and/or “transporting” those firearms illegal if it is going to be selectively enforced? That opens the door for a wide range of prosecutorial abuses over who is or is not targeted with felony charges for owning guns that are otherwise legal to own in other states across the country.
It is good that Perryman is not going to be prosecuted under a law that applies an arbitrary standard to decide what an “assault weapon” is. But the fact that this law exists in the first place is a problem in and of itself, as is the fact that it was used to keep Perryman behind bars just for him not to be charged with anything. This entire saga shows that California’s gun control regime, and the selective enforcement of its laws, are not keeping anyone safe.