Gun-packing senator dodges a legal bullet

Washington state senator Jeff Wilson had an extraordinary escape from heavier punishment that, at worst, could have put him behind bars for 14 years along with a HK$100,000 fine.

Instead, he walked free from court after agreeing to a good behavior order.

Wilson, who has served as a senator in the Washington state legislature since 2021, was arrested at the airport on October 21 for possessing a gun without a license.

At the West Kowloon court yesterday, prosecutors agreed to drop the charge.

Although the acquittal was conditional on a 24-month good behavior order, it was the most lenient term that the American politician could ever expect. The HK$2,000 sum he was ordered to pay was not even a fine but part of a bindover.

Had it been anyone else, would the same leniency have been shown if it were also caused by an "honest mistake" involving no ulterior motive, but merely the fact of firearm possession without a license?

We may never know the answer as it may be argued that no cases are identical.

However, in the name of judicial consistency, it would be expected that, in similar future cases, comparable leniency would have to be handed out as a matter of consistency, rather than selectively.

This case was curious in a number of aspects.

First, it involved a US politician. Although Wilson, a Republican, serves only in the state legislature and is not prominent outside his constituency, nobody can say for certain that he will not move up to the US Senate on Capitol Hill one day to have a say on matters relating to the Sino-US relationship.

Following his acquittal, Wilson commended the Hong Kong authorities for "conducting themselves in a professional manner."

Is the government not investing a fortune in a campaign to put Hong Kong in a good light?

Given Wilson's background, such praise was the best quote that Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu or Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po could have dreamt of.

The case was also interesting in the fact that Wilson had been able to carry the gun onto the plane in hand luggage when it was illegal to do so.

According to a Daily Mail report, guns may be carried in hold luggage in the United States but the passenger must pack them in a container and declare them to the airline while checking in.

Wilson said that he reached into the briefcase for gum but felt the gun when he was flying above the Pacific.

It was a big "gum and gun" joke - but the bigger joke was that the X-ray machine failed to spot the gun in the pre-boarding security check.

Will Wilson face charges for carrying a gun on board a plane after returning home?

As he walked free, Wilson issued a statement saying he and his wife, Trisha, would resume their travel plans in Southeast Asia. The Daily Mail said the couple had planned to visit Shanghai, Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia before his arrest.

Had his first stop been in of these places rather than Hong Kong, would he have been treated differently over his firearm possession?

That, again, is an open-ended question.