Man who wanted to kill gay people when he opened fire in a small Montana town is sentenced to 18 years (nbcnews.com)

A Montana man who fired an AK-style rifle at the home of a lesbian woman and said he wanted to “get rid of” gay people in his small town was sentenced to 18 years in prison Tuesday, prosecutors said. John Howald, 46, opened fire at the woman’s home in Basin in March 2020 and set off to shoot others before he was interrupted by a sheriff’s deputy, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana said in a statement Wednesday.

I’m sorry, why only 18 years?