A Question For Wendi

I hate to look like I'm picking on her -- three times in a week no less -- but in her Sunday column, Wendi Thomas got all stern and disapproving on the Memphis Police Department for acting more as chauffeurs than arresting officers with Tamara Mitchell-Ford last week. It's the usual columnist stuff, lots of "this is wrong" but little "do this instead."

I wonder what she'd have to say about this:

Rep. John Hostettler of Indiana was briefly detained Tuesday when airport security workers found a handgun in his briefcase as he was going through a checkpoint on a trip back to Washington.

The five-term Republican congressman was released after he was issued a citation by airport police for a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed deadly weapon. The charge carries a maximum year in jail and up to a $500 fine.

Hostettler was preparing to board a US Airways flight at Louisville International Airport when the gun was found. The lawmaker said he had placed the handgun in his briefcase early in Congress' two-week spring recess, then forgot about it.

If Joe American had done that, does Wendi think he'd have received the same treatment? Should the congressman be sitting in a jail cell right now facing a felony charge, as you or I would be?

Not to mention that owning or possessing a handgun in the city of Washington, DC, his destination, is also a felony. Should he be charged and tried for that? Again, why isn't he sitting in a cell?

Only seems fair. What say you, Wendi?