Just this May, Pamela Phillips was sentenced to 25 years to life in an Arizona prison. She was convicted of the 1996 murder of her ex-husband in order to collect on a $2 million life insurance policy. Upon receiving the money, Phillips split to Europe. When evidence of Phillips’s involvement in the car bomb plot that took her ex's life surfaced, she was arrested in 2009 in Austria. The U.S. has an extradition treaty with Austria, as it does with many countries, and used it to get her back to face justice. But here is the catch:
“Phillips, 56, couldn't receive the death penalty because she was extradited from Austria, which has a treaty with the U.S. that won't allow anyone to be extradited for prosecution if they face capital punishment.”
Pamela Phillips sentenced to life for '96 car bomb killing | Fox News
I hear many Europeans over the internet state that the death penalty is “barbaric.” They use that same word, barbaric, regardless of what Euro country they are from. One might even be tempted to think that they have been brain-washed to hold this opinion. But the truth is far worse.
America has experienced 50 mass shootings since Columbine in April of 1999. That’s more than four and a half mass shootings a year. Let’s see how many were committed with foreign-made weapons:
· One of the Columbine killers used an Intratec TEC-9 9mm semi-automatic pistol. This weapon was made in Sweden although they are largely made in the U.S. today. Like many foreign manufacturers, they set up American operations to absolve themselves of guilt. Thirteen were killed at Columbine. The TEC-9 was the armed robber’s weapon of choice in the 90s after it was featured in movie after movie. The Swedish manufacturer even advertised the weapon as having grips that do not retain fingerprints. Marketed to law-abiding citizens, no doubt.
· At Momentum Securities in Atlanta, Georgia, a mass shooting in July of 1999 left 12 dead, nine by gunfire. One of the guns used was a Glock Model 17 semi-automatic 9mm pistol. Glocks are from Austria.
· At Edgewater Technologies at Wakefield, Massachusetts in December 2000, seven were killed with an AK-47 style weapon which are made in Russia as well as a Retolaza .32 caliber semi-automatic pistol which is made in Spain.
· On March 5, 2001, two were killed at Santana High School in Santee, California by an Arminius .22 caliber revolver. These are made in Germany.
· Windy City Core Supply warehouse in Chicago, August 27, 2003, six are killed with a Walther .380 caliber semi-automatic pistol. Walther firearms were originally German but has an American-based plant as well.
· Birchwood, Wisconsin, November 21, 2004, Chai Vang kills six with a 7.62x39 caliber Saiga rifle. Saiga firearms are Russian.
· Sheraton hotel in Brookfield, Wisconsin, March 2005, nine are killed with a Beretta 92FS 9mm semi-automatic pistol. Beretta is in Italy.
· The Virginia Tech shootings on April 16, 2007 that left 32 dead were done with a Walther P22 semi-automatic pistol and a Glock Model 19 9mm semi-automatic pistol. Again, Germany and Austria.
· Westroads Mall, Omaha, Nebraska, December 5, 2007, nine are killed with an AK-47 style 7.62x39 caliber. Russian.
· Four people were killed December 7, 2007 at the Youth with a Mission center in Arvada, Colorado and at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs. One of the weapons used was a Beretta .40 caliber handgun. Again, Italy.
· Five people were killed at the Brookside Marketplace, a shopping center in Chicago on February 2, 2008 with a Glock 40 caliber semi-automatic pistol.
· A shooting at Northern Illinois University at DeKalb on February 14, 2008 that killed six. Among the weapons used, a Glock Model 19 9mm semi-automatic pistol and a Kurz Sig Sauer P232 9mm semi-automatic pistol. Glock is Austrian and Kurz Sig Sauer is German.
· An April 3, 2009 shooting at the Immigration Center in Binghamton, New York left 13 dead. Weapons used were a Beretta 92FS Vertec 9mm semi-automatic pistol and a Beretta Px4 .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol. Italian.
· On November 5, 2009, Major Nidal Hasan killed 13 at Fort Hood army base in Texas. The weapon used was an FN Five-seveN 5.57mm semiautomatic pistol. The highly lethal FN weapons are made in Belgium.
· Two were killed on January 5, 2011 at Millard High School in Omaha, Nebraska. Weapon used was a Glock .40 caliber, apparently a Model 22.
· Three days later, Jared Loughner killed six and grievously wounded a Congresswoman at a Safeway supermarket parking lot with a Glock 9mm semiautomatic pistol.
· Seven people were killed July 7, 2011 in Grand Rapids, Michigan by an assailant using a Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistol.
· On September 6, 2011, six people were killed at an IHOP restaurant in Carson City, Nevada with an AK-47 variant 7.62x30 caliber.
· A little over a month later, eight people were killed at Salon Meritage in Seal Beach, California. The deadliest mass killing ever in Orange County. One of the weapons used was a Heckler & Koch 9mm semi-automatic pistol. Heckler & Koch is German.
· On July 20, 2012, James Holmes walked into a movie theater and opened fire on the audience, killing 12. Among the weapons used were two Glock Model 22 .40 caliber semi-automatic pistols.
· On September 27, 2012 at Accent Signage Systems in Minneapolis, five people were killed with a Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistol. The shooter, Andrew Engeldinger, had lost his job there, then killed himself.
In 11 other mass shootings I researched that also took place during this time period, the weapons used were undetermined or not mentioned in the reports. 12 (11 confirmed and one probable) mass shootings were done solely with American made weapons. 21 shootings were committed either with solely foreign firearms or a mixture of domestic and foreign.
Now, let’s look at how these countries who ship their weapons to America (they have virtually no other market other than a few police forces) view the death penalty:
· Sweden abolished the death penalty in 1921.
· Austria in 1950.
· Spain in 1978.
· Germany in 1949.
· Belgium in 1996.
· Italy in 1947.
· Russia has a de facto ban on the death penalty not having used it since 1999.
· Brazil (largest exporter of handguns to America since 1994) abolished the death penalty in 1976 except for crimes of an extraordinary nature.
· Israel, whose Uzis occasionally make their way into the States to kill Americans, also has a de facto ban on the death penalty not having used it since 1954.
This is not a gun control issue. Whether one believes in banning all guns or arming American society to the teeth with every possible firearm in existence, the issue here is one of hypocrisy. The idea that because the United States uses the death penalty in some states (not all, my state doesn’t have it, for example) that it practices barbarism while the very same countries that believe this are making big money manufacturing and selling firearms specifically for the “self-defense/concealed carry” demographic is, oh, let us call it, stunning.
There may be some who beg to differ. For example:
We don’t make American law and if these people want to pay good money to shoot each other to death then why not cash in? But can this “reasoning” possibly excuse the killings of innocent people including young children and even infants? Because some Americans have a mania to shoot anyone and everyone they perceive to be any kind of threat, does that mean that you should sell them all the firearms they want because they live in another country you don’t particularly like?
A similar line of reasoning runs:
They have capital punishment anyway so what difference does it make if we sell them guns to kill a few more misfits and psychopaths? The answer, of course, is that capital punishment is reserved for those judged guilty of a heinous crime and not for an innocent bystander or a kid pulling a Halloween prank or a drunken person who staggered up on the wrong porch at three in the morning.
I cannot imagine, for the life of me, how any country could care so much about sparing the life of someone convicted for a horrific crime that they refuse to extradite them to stand trial because they might be executed if convicted and yet could care less what happens to innocent people and seem to be doing everything in their power to hasten their demise. You get the devil you deserve.
But does the hypocrisy stop there? Not by a long shot (no pun intended).
“The real cause of death and impairment of innocent civilians is the very existence of anti-personnel mines, sophisticated but awfully cheap, which look like candy boxes, are almost undetectable and last a long period. Their production and sale must be stopped. Like other such weapons, they must be prohibited. For my part, I see little difference between those who use them and those who produce them.”
--Sadako Ogata,
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Statement at the International Meeting on Mine Clearance
Geneva, Switzerland-July 1995
Despite an attempt to ban the manufacture, sale and use of anti-personnel (AP) mines, a number of countries, including the U.S., have refused to sign. These countries include Finland, Georgia, India and Russia—all of which have either abolished the death penalty or no longer use it. Italy and Sweden have agreed to destroy their stocks but that is little comfort to many of the war-ton areas of the world that are still littered with millions of AP mines made in Europe, mostly Italy, and are still lethal and waiting to kill or maim an innocent person, probably a child looking for firewood or scrap metal to sell.
Other countries that are not destroying their stocks of AP mines despite having abolished the death penalty include Greece, Brazil, Argentina, Poland and Romania.
I remember in 1987 while stationed in the Persian Gulf, the USS Stark getting hit by two Exocet missiles fired from an Iraqi jetfighter whose pilot ignored radio transmissions from the ship to identify himself. Both missiles struck the ship officially killing 37. My ship was one of several to race out to the stricken ship that night to put the fire out and fish out and bag up bodies. The Exocet missiles used in the attack were made and bought from France who abolished their death penalty in 1981.
I am not trying to paint the U.S. as a victim. We are merchants of death both foreign and domestic. And we will lie and scheme our way into causing as much death and mayhem as we possibly can to get what we want—no matter what it is. I don’t think that anybody could peruse the tragic debacle that is known as the Bush-Cheney Iraq War and conclude anything else nor should they. I will go to my grave never being able to swallow that one. I will choke on it all the rest of my days.
But with that said, what right has any other country to whine about it when they can’t wait to put a militarized firearm in the hand of an American kook and a fat wad of American money in their pocket? Not all countries are guilty, of course. Japan, for example, exports zero handguns to the United States or to any other country and has stayed out the landmine business. I don’t even have a problem with those countries flooding our streets with their filthy firearms—we are stupid enough to allow it—just shut up about what barbarians we are. You are far worse.
