GLIMMERS OF CIVILIZATION IN THE LAND OF BARBARIANS: Support grows for Marine who brought gun to ESB. “Support is growing for former Marine Ryan Jerome, who was busted trying to check his Indiana-registered handgun at the Empire State Building in September. Jerome, 28, of West Bend, is threatened with a criminal record for gun possession and a possible mandatory minimum prison sentence of 3 1/2 years. A letter-writing campaign launched by Jerome’s fellow Marines and urging the charges be dismissed — described in the New York Post — has snowballed via the website leatherneck.com thanks to the publicity, said organizer and Marine veteran Davis Bruce, a Boston-based lawyer.”

Mayor Bloomberg and his ilk like to go on about “common-sense gun laws.” Where’s the common sense in this approach? A massive mandatory minimum sentence for mere malum prohibitum? Barbaric.