NASCAR is one sport I’ve never been able to get into, which has worked out fine for them. Millions of Americans love watching the races, even if NASCAR itself seems to be rolling a little leftward of late.
Regardless, it’s an individual sport, where a single person represents pretty much the entire time and develops a devoted following.
Drivers like Kyle Busch become celebrities.
However, that doesn’t mean they can break foreign gun laws, which Busch appears to have done. Now, he may be spending some considerable time in prison.
One of the most recognizable names in NASCAR today was just handed a hefty prison sentence by a court in Mexico.
On Friday, the attorney general of Quintana Roo, the Mexican state where popular tourist destinations like Cancún and Playa del Carmen are located, announced that 37-year-old NASCAR star Kyle Busch had been sentenced to three and a half years in prison after he was found to be “carrying a firearm without a license.”
Busch, identified in the press release only as “Kyle ‘N’” or “Kyle Thomas B,” had accidentally run afoul of the Mexican law last month when he and his wife, Samantha, were on vacation, and Busch claimed he forgot that he had left a gun in his handbag. When the Busches arrived at Cancún International Airport on January 27 to hop on a private plane back to the States, authorities discovered in his belongings a .380 caliber “pistol-type firearm” with a stocked magazine containing “six useful hollow point cartridges,” the press release stated.
Because of an “expedited procedure,” Busch’s case was soon afterward placed before a “Control judge,” and that judge issued Busch the prison sentence and a fine of just over $1,000. The press release claimed that Busch “was credited with his full responsibility in the commission of the crime,” and a statement released on Busch’s Twitter account seems to confirm his admitted guilt.
Busch isn’t in Mexico at the moment and claimed that he and his family consider the issue closed.
No one is entirely sure exactly what that means, though.
It doesn’t appear Busch has any intention of serving the sentence. Whether or not the Mexican government expects the NASCAR driver to serve it is still a question.
Of course, if Busch doesn’t serve the sentence, that’s going to look a little weird, especially to Andrew Tahmooressi, a former Marine who ended up in Mexico after taking a wrong turn. He spent 214 days in a Mexican jail before being released, and that was for a wrong turn.
Especially since the Mexican government has tried suing US gun manufacturers over illegal actions carried out with guns they made that were trafficked illegally into the country.
I’m sure that Busch won’t see the inside of a prison. I’m also sure that I’d get no such consideration from Mexican authorities.
I don’t blame Busch for doing everything he can to stay out, mind you. I hear Mexican jails are unpleasant places that make our jails look downright comforting. I’m more bothered by the fact that the rules aren’t applied evenly.
Then again, this is Mexico. What can you expect?