Ron Coronado Expresses Regret for Terrorist Past

Rodney Coronado, previously imprisoned for committing arson, is going to jail again. Unlike his previous defiance, this time at his sentencing he expressed regret. From the story:

Coronado was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison after pleading guilty to demonstrating how to use a destructive device during a speech in Hillcrest in August 2003.

Before Miller sentenced him, Coronado said those days were behind him, that he wanted to be a family man, a good husband to his wife of eight months and a father to his two children. “My life, I see going in a completely different direction,” Coronado said. Coronado, 41, accepted responsibility for his words and said he was ready to serve his sentence and then “be allowed to move on with my life.”

“I have said and done things in my past which I regret,” Coronado said, adding later that he realized those words could have inspired others to go out and commit destructive acts in the name of protecting animals and the environment.

I hope he is sincere. There is one way to tell: If he works as hard to convince his former terrorist colleagues to restrain their criminality and pursue the animal cause through legal means as he has in the past to engage in and promote felonious conduct, and if he cooperates with law enforcement to bring other terrorists to justice, I will believe him. If he joins the Gary Francione “abolitionist” approach in advocating for animal rights—and urges his followers to join him—I will believe him.

Coronado could actually do a lot of good. He is idolized for his willingness to act criminally by the ALF and SHAC types and their supporters in the movement. If his heart is truly changed, he could lead them out of the badlands and back to working through democratic processes. Persuasion isn’t an adrenalin rush like coercion, but it is the only way to affect change in these matters without causing the roof to fall in.

If he’s sincere...