Should John Hinkley ever be released?

[hedgehog]

Poll question: Should John Hinkley ever be released?

Feel free to explain your answer.

[Turbineguy]

1. Maybe they can imprison

reaganomics instead.

[Bluzmann57]

2. No.

He took a shot at the President, wounded another man for life and therefore should never be released. His intent was to kill the president and whether one agreed with him or not, he was still the president.

[hedgehog]

4. Anyone who shoots one of our politicians does more harm than any

serial killer. One bullet means more than 100 million votes.

Add to that that we've seen it possible for any determined person to find a gun, and I say john Hinkley is too dangerous to ever be released.

[Ohio Joe]

11. +1 - Well said - nt

[Poll_Blind]

3. If it is determined by those legally in control of the decision, of course.

Same with Sirhan Sirhan, Anders Breivik, etc.

Is that a controversial opinion?

PB

[jorno67]

5. Maybe...

What if he was from the future and knew what Ronnie would end up doing to the world? You know the old "if you could go back in time and kill Hitler before he came to power" scenario.
If that's the case, isn't he a hero?

[rfranklin]

6. No, because he failed...

but if he would tell me where the time machine is hidden, I could put it to good use.

[hedgehog]

14. Imagine someone at FreeRepublic speculating on a time traveler

returning to strangle Obama in the cradle.

Political assassination is not a joking matter.

[Greybnk48]

15. self-deleted comment. Reagan was a brain-dead douche. n/t

[HereSince1628]

7. That's quite an interesting scenario...have you written the screenplay?

I think there are real possibilities!

[HappyMe]

8. No. Hell no.

He tried to take out a president. I think the guy is too dangerous to set him free.

[LynneSin]

9. Anyone who doesn't say 'Yes' should ask themselves this....

If it was Barack Obama, or Jimmy Carter, or Bill Clinton who was the president that was shot - would you want him/her to be released from jail.

nuff said.

[BillStein]

10. only if we had spread the rumor

that george w was boinking Jodi Foster

[Yupster]

12. I said yes

I recently read a book about the Reagan assassination attempt.

Hinkley was a pretty sad case. It followed his whole life and his final trip. He was one of those guys who had plans but didn't make any reasonable efforts to accomplish them. I forget the details but I think he wanted to be a songwriter. He used all his money to go to Hollywood to sell his songs. Got more and more detached from reality. Family just wanted him to get a job.

Had about $ 2 left to his name when he went to kill Reagan.

Reading it, I can see him getting out. I didn't see him as evil.

[libinnyandia]

13. I have always believed attempted murder should be treated as

successful murder: life in prison, no parole.

[mod mom]

16. On NPR they said he lied about going to a movie when in fact he went to a book store

& looked at books about the assassination. A Dr said he was a megalomaniac. If he is intrigued by his deed, then he could strike again. I don't believe he should be allowed out unsupervised.

so my answer would be NO

[tammywammy]

17. No. n/t

[The Straight Story]

18. might as well, not like he is a threat to Reagan anymore

:)