Should Clifford Clark go to jail and lose the right to own guns forever?

My answer--as a law-abiding gun owner is...hell yes.

So who is Clifford Clark, you ask?
Clifford Clark is the slack-jawed yokel from Knoxville, Tennessee who took a .30-06 rifle out at 2AM last Sunday morning and fired three rounds from it into a red-light camera at the intersection of Broadway and Interstate 640. He then tried to flee but police who heard the shots saw his minivan speeding away and they stopped him and found the gun. When they asked him what he was doing with it, like a craven coward, he replied that he didn't want to say because he didn't want to get in trouble. Way to man up there, Cliff. But further investigation revealed what he'd done and he's now being charged with felony vandalism and reckless endangerment. He's currently being held in jail in lieu of paying an $8,000 bond.

Let me say before going any farther that no one hates these red-light or photo-radar speed cameras more than I do. I've been dinged by them too and it takes a lot of effort on my part to write out the check without adding a curse upon all who handle it subsequent to it's receipt. But because I am a rational adult, I know that the cameras weren't speeding or running the red lights--I was. So I suck it up and pay and try to be more careful the next time. (I also avoid Washington DC, where the things exist in abundance, but that's another issue.) I also wouldn't consider vandalizing the cameras because as an American, I respect the property rights of others just as strongly as I appreciate my right to own and control my property and expect that it be respected by other citizens and government alike. Just because I'm angry doesn't give me the right to deprive someone else of their property.

Now sadly--and predictably--Clifford is being lauded as some sort of a hero on the gun-related internet websites like AR15.com, FALfiles, Glocktalk, and other websites where the Walter Mitty/keyboard-commando types sit and chat and pretend to be warriors and patriots. He's the new darling of the angry losers who think that it makes them sound like real men when they spew anti-government crap via their home computers all night long. They're cheering the fact that Clifford Clark destroyed the private property of someone else and used a gun to do it. And in between posts where they brag of doing similar acts or fantasize about going out and being the next Clifford Clark, they're talking about petitions to make sure that Clark doesn't get a felony conviction and lose the right to own a gun for the rest of his life. To that crowd, the only rights that matter are theirs. If someone damages their property, they scream and demand vengeance, but it's ok for them to destroy someone else's stuff out of spite.
Well apparently none of these pretend patriots live near the intersection where Clark was recklessly discharging that gun and it's a safe bet that neither they nor their loved ones were driving a car in the area. Lest it need be said, a .30-06 round will penetrate a car at well over a thousand yards and go right through most any house or apartment wall as well. Clifford Clark should have thought about that before he decided to get stupid and give all of us decent gun owners a black eye. as it is, I stand apart from those who think that Clark did something admirable and I hope that the District Attorney takes him to trial on the felony charges and ensures that Clifford Clark can never lawfully possess another firearm for the rest of his rather pathetic life.