Having said that, now that he's paid his debt, it does seem like the system should do more to help him return to productive society.
When you have a gun in that situation the number of things that can go wrong increases by an order of magnitude. The adrenaline could make him pull the trigger when he didn't really mean to. Someone in the bank tackling him could make it go off. Hell, it could jam and he could blow his own hand off.
I'm glad he's turned his life around but we can't have people committing armed robbery and going back out onto the street in three months.
I think this is a straw man. Most of us agree that armed robbery is a crime that deserves some punishment. However, if 18 years was his sentence, I want his sentence to be 18 years, not a subsequent lifetime of being unable to contribute meaningfully to society. He's not out in three months, he's spent half of my life in prison.
Frankly 18 years sounds kinda cheap. If you have to rob a bank, at least tie a chain around the atm at 1 am -- more money and less hurt to all concerned.
I agree, it is pretty strict but that is because it is a very serious crime due to the direct impact the gun has on people. Steal the ATM, break into the place in the night, sell cocaine, whatever, but don't fucking threaten peoples life.
Even if you have a plastic toy you spray painted black, that's the same thing as having one in the chamber. The teller still thinks s/he is going to die.
I used to think that a man (it's almost always a man) brings a loaded gun to a crime for one reason - to murder someone who got in his way. I've since mollified my stance on that, but still, the fact that no-one was injured isn't in itself really exculpatory.