Amid the push for more gun control for law-abiding citizens, President Obama exercised his pardoning power for Larry Wayne Thorton, a Forsyth, GA man who had been sentenced to four years probation for firearm-related offenses.
Thorton was sentenced after being found guilty of possession of an unregistered firearm and “possession of a firearm without a serial number.”
While issuing pardons is certainly the president’s prerogative, this particular pardon comes as the NRA, Gun Owners of America, and others are all making the case that one of the chief reasons behind gun crime is the Obama administration’s lax enforcement of gun laws that are already on the books.
That Thorton was one of 17 persons pardoned by Obama on March 1, will only add fuel to this argument.