[ RadSafe ] xray WMD

[KARAM, PHILIP]

Using a fake gun for a stick-up is still a crime - but it's not as serious as using an unloaded gun, which is not as serious as using a loaded gun, which is not as serious as shooting someone.



P. Andrew Karam, PhD, CHP
NYPD Counterterrorism
One Police Plaza, Room 1109
New York, NY 10038
(718) 615-7055 (desk)
(646) 879-5268 (mobile)


-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of clayton bradt
Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2015 1:48 PM
To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] xray WMD

Sticking up a bank with a fake gun is still a robbery with a victim.
Conspiring to commit a crime that is physically impossible is a different matter.  Unlike the fake gun in a robbery, the "death ray" was never built or deployed.  In my conception of justice, mere intent to commit mass murder should not be enough to convict (a thought crime), there should also be a credible chance of success.  Had this person been constructing a Vodoo doll with which to commit mass murder, would he have been guilty of a crime?  I think not.  If the law would say otherwise, then the law is an ass.

Clayton Bradt
--------------------------------------
original post:

"I first would ask my colleagues in the NYPD, if they could charge a suspect with armed robbery, if he were to have used a fake gun, and make it stick.
You could use the answer to that question to scale up to the level of harm these guys intended, seems to me.  Wouldn't it be fine if the overwhelming majority of terrorists were as incompetent as this duo?"
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