By Chris Lowe (January 7, 2016)
Here is another comparison to think about regarding the group of armed trespassers on the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. An 84 year old nun, Megan Rice, was given an almost three year sentence in federal prison for breaking into a US government nuclear facility in an act of civil disobedience. She eventually served two years and then was released last year.
Changes in federal law in the past 15 years have made trespass on certain kinds of federal facilities subject to harsh minimum sentences similarly to those imposed on the Hammonds for arson.
How shall we think about the sentence for unarmed protesters at Oak Ridge TN nuclear facility who committed minor vandalism, vs. the what should happen to armed self-styled militia protest trespassers at a rather different kind of facility? The latter seem to potentially pose an actual threat of violence, unlike the former.