Alexander Hamilton
Posted on 01/14/2012 6:45:40 AM PST by marktwain
A Tea Party activist busted at La Guardia Airport trying to place his California-licensed handgun into checked baggage got off with a disorderly-conduct charge yesterday.
Mark Meckler’s no-jail deal comes as city district attorneys are grappling with a growing number of otherwise law-abiding gun owners who accidentally run afoul of New York’s strict gun-control regulations.
“Apparently, this happens to hundreds of people per year in New York City,” Meckler, co-founder of the influential Tea Party Patriots, fumed on his Web site after court today.
Similar recent high-profile arrests have sparked calls in the Legislature and by The Post to re-examine New York’s tough 2006 gun law, which critics say fails to properly account for criminal intent.
On Dec. 15, a Detroit-bound Meckler had alerted La Guardia security that he had an unloaded 9mm Glock in a locked box and wanted to include it with his checked luggage.
Instead, he was charged with felony criminal possession of a weapon and faced a mandatory 3 1/2 to 15 years in prison.
“Until you have felt the handcuffs on your wrists and until you have heard that cell door close behind you, it is impossible to understand what it means to actually lose your liberty,” Meckler, who declined to comment outside court, wrote on his blog yesterday.
By pleading to disorderly conduct, he was hit with a $250 fine in Queens Criminal Court. His Glock 27 was not returned.
“My attorney advised me that I can attempt to pursue the return of my firearm but that to do so would cost me more than the firearm is worth,” Meckler, 49, wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
as a NY State resident, with a state concealed carry permit, when I travel between the upstate counties and Long Island, I have to unload...lock up the gun away from the ammo till I pass the 10-15 minute drive time through NYC...then I may reload and carry....there I don't have a case as federal laws do not apply.
If memory serves me, a few years ago the Law & Order detective, Dennis Farina(?), was caught in a similar incident at LAX, Los Angeles. I think his gun was loaded and considered concealed. In CA, your first offense is a misdemeanor, but a felony if the handgun is unregistered.
They charged him with a felony because his gun was not registered, even though there was no law requiring him to register it in CA, as he was not a state citizen.
I don’t remember the outcome of this case.
“The Right Of the People to keep and Bear Arms shall not be Infringed”.
And that should include attempts by anti-2A Socialist enclaves like Noo Yawk Settee.
The nice thing about being a Dem/Liberal/Fascist is that you don’t have to worry about obeying the Constitution. You just rule under “Cuz I says so” policy.
ala any number of thugs/criminals/tyrants/mass murderers of the past...or present...
Maybe it’s just me, but isn’t the “Full faith and credit” clause of the Constitution being violated here, in addition to the Second Amendment?
The “full faith and credit” has been ignored by people-control politicians for almost a hundred years.New York disarmed the poor in early 1900s making them easier prey for criminals in and out of office.Other cities followed.
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