Posted on 07/15/2008 7:20:24 PM PDT by neverdem
Caught speeding in Highland Park in April in his father's Acura RSX, Ryan Narciso found out the hard way about a recent change in a New Jersey gun law that could send him to prison for three years.
The 20-year-old sales clerk at a shop at Menlo Park Mall and former Middlesex County College student had a pellet handgun in the car, according to an indictment filed last week in Superior Court, New Brunswick.
The gun, a Gamo P-23, was sitting under the rear window of the 2004 coupe. Looking like a larger-caliber handgun, the firearm drew a quick response from the bicycle-patrol officer who stopped Narciso for doing 40 mph in a 25-mph zone. With gun drawn, the officer arrested him.
Narciso's father, an architect, bought the pellet gun at a garage sale a few years ago to fend off squirrels that made their way into the attic of the families home on Mount Pleasant Avenue in Edison, the father and Narciso's lawyer, Amilcar Perez of Perth Amboy, said.
Under a new state law, Narciso's possession of the weapon qualifies as a Graves Act offense. Narciso could face what prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys call a "hard three," meaning three years with no prospect of parole.
But a state official Wednesday acknowledged that the draconian measure made its way into law by mistake.
Stiffening the law
The Graves Act, adopted in 1981 and named after Frank X. Graves Jr., the late state senator and law-and-order mayor of Paterson known for patroling the city, outlined mandatory-minimum prison sentences for anyone guilty of using a gun in the commission of a crime in New Jersey. A burglar caught with a handgun, for instance, faced a solid three years behind bars for the gun crime alone.
With little or no fanfare, lawmakers stiffened the Graves Act in the last session. They folded the amendment into anti-gang legislation that Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed into law in January.
Now, the simple unlawful possession of any firearm can bring mandatory penalties for anyone who pleads guilty to or is convicted of that crime alone.
The law does not trigger hard time in each case.
As the law stands, Narciso could avoid prison if he enters a pretrial-intervention program, allowing him to eventually erase his criminal record, or benefits from a narrow alternative for probation under the Graves Act. But the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office could block the first of those possibilities and must initiate the second.
A 50-year-old businessman from Somerset County faces longer odds for gaining such mercy. Police charged the man in a drunken-driving accident this year. While investigating, officers found an unsecured handgun the man had just lawfully purchased.
"It was unboxed in his car," said his attorney, Blair Zwillman of Woodbridge.
Because of the change to the Graves Act, the businessman is now looking at a 5-year minimum prison term, Zwillman said. He declined to provide his client's name.
Steven Altman, a New Brunswick criminal-defense attorney, said the stiffer gun law casts a wide net.
"It is going to impact a great many people who have nothing to do with gangs," he said.
But the businessman and Narciso may not face any hard time.
"Huge mistake'
Neither Narciso, nor his father knew they broke the law by having the gun without a firearms registration card, both men said.
"If we knew it was illegal, my dad never would have gotten it," Narciso said.
And it proved ineffective in controlling the problem in the attic, they said.
"That gun couldn't even kill a squirrel," the father, Emiliano Narciso, said.
Regardless of the change to the Graves Act, possession of the pellet gun is still a crime that can theoretically bring three to five years in prison, but rarely means incarceration for first-time offenders. Past offenders would likely see several months of jail at most.
Narciso has never had a brush with the law.
His father said his son was recently playing with the gun and threw it in the back of the car. Ryan Narciso said he forgot it was there.
Despite the revelations about the confused legislation, Ryan Narciso, who hopes to return to college to study fashion or product design, did not seem relieved Thursday outside his home where he lives with his siblings and parents.
"Every time I think about it, I think of what a huge mistake it was," Narciso said. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused."
Ken Serrano: (732) 565-7212; kserrano@mycentraljersey.com
No FOID is required for most airguns. Required for all arms using gun powder (ie what most people understand as “firearms”). You also need a permit to purchase in addition to the FOID.
Here in Jersey, a BB Rifle requires the same license as a hunting rifle or shotgun. It’s insane.
Who trained this idiot?
“bicycle-patrol officer who stopped Narciso for doing 40 mph in a 25-mph zone”
The shame is worse than the prison time.
Based on my personal calculations, you would also be drowning Hyannisport, Ma. Let's see how good they can swim now.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
If I look at a beer ad on TV while playing road racing games with the kids and a pellet gun is in the basement, am I guilty of a crime in any state yet?
“Red-state New Jersey” — Sussex County and parts of Morris and Warren Counties — is mountainous higher elevations and would still be above water, as islands. So justice would be preserved.
It would be instructive to know how the law is worded - exactly. They use gun and firearm in this article interchangeably. A firearm is a gun, but not all guns are firearms.
And last time I checked the pellet gun (rifle actually) propped up in the corner of my porch (for discouraging squirrels and coons); no fire of any kind is involved in the action.
Is it just me, or is the gun irrelevant to the crime committed?
OK !!!
This did it !!!
In Ohio now....gotta move...
Please tell me which state is the REDIST.....ah... more red....
Not kidding..
Yeah! Me especially!!!
LOL!
Okay, I’ll have to go back and check, but I think some sort of a BARREL is required as well.
Like a peashooter? ;)
New Jersey is a red state.
Bolshevik Red
How did she like moving to a totally different part of the country? I’m lucky in that I’m a train ride away from my friends. From Brooklyn, NY to Stamford, CT.
But I don’t know how I’d handle a midwestern state.
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