Quite unlike the Sirhan Sirhan opinions I offered last month, this attempt did fail — and in my opinion — the attempt had a negligible effect on the course of US history. That said, Sirhan has served far more years than John Hinckley, the would be Reagan assassin.

In any event, he is slated to by a fully-free 67 year old man, by summer of next year — per NPR’s reporting:

…Prosecutor Kacie Weston said the Justice Department agreed to a settlement but wanted to monitor Hinckley for the next nine months because of two big changes in his life: he’s living on his own for the first time in about 40 years, and because one of his primary doctors is preparing for retirement and disbanding Hinckley’s therapy group. DOJ said it would file a motion with the court before June of next year if it had fresh concerns about Hinckley….

Now you know — this is what our as revised laws require. And he has served his time, and his therapists say he’s at nearly zero risk of re-offending, as he’s been living in near freedom for three years, and has held a long term stable job.

I think that makes sense — and assassins are almost always very young white men. He has long past his expiration date on that. Onward.