Posted on 04/23/2014 8:17:14 AM PDT by marktwain
Virginia Gun Owner Being Unfairly Prosecuted In NJ For Accidentally Bringing A Gun Into The State
Virginia Citizens Defense League
Covington VA --(Ammoland.com)- A Virginia CHP holder, Guy Ackerman, inadvertently brought a handgun with him into NJ.
He discovered the gun in his car and rather than leave it in there with valet parking, he took the unloaded revolver to his room and locked it in the room safe. The valet had noticed the gun when it was in the car and told the police, who arrested Guy and charged him with unlawful weapon possession – a felony in NJ.
The prosecutor is refusing to allow Guy an option to avoid jail time, an option that is normally available in such cases.
Guy is really in a tough spot. If he takes the prosecutor’s current “deal,” Guy will spend one year in prison before being able to apply for parole. If denied, he will have to serve up to three years. If he rejects the idea of a “guilty” plea and is found guilty in a trial, he then faces a minimum jail sentence of between five and ten years.
Of course, if he wins the trial, he would be free. However, we are talking New Jersey.
This is why I avoid New Jersey, preferring not to leave America.
Here is a web site that provides details on Guy’s situation, as well as a petition to sign asking that Guy be given the non-felony option: www.wesupportourguy.com
About:
Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right. Visit: www.vcdl.org
Agreed. It’s come to that.
Practical sense under the absolute tyrannical rule (currently) of Democrats, that’s all. By no means I think this is right - I’d be first in line to have it out in a fight that isn’t over stupidity.
In crystal clear hindsight —
If he knew the valet saw the gun, immediately get back in the car and drive for the nearest state border.
Well, maybe. Drones know no borders. (Nor do JBT/SWAT in full pursuit.)
Unfortunately, “What is”, trumps “What should be”. We CCP holders of upstate NY live with this reality all the time. Packing heat can be more trouble than it is worth in our neck of the woods. God forbid if you had to use your weapon. No matter how justified, your life would be changed forever.
I know. You were just being practical and telling people they need to be diligent when it comes to interstate travel and guns.
Dr. Phil was directed at NJ not you.
I know. You were just being practical and telling people they need to be diligent when it comes to interstate travel and guns.
Dr. Phil was directed at NJ not you.
This pretty much sums it up:
“18 U.S. Code § 926A - Interstate transportation of firearms”
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/926A
No, I don’t. But tell me how this massive privacy intrusion into this citizen’s privacy and infringements on his rights in defiance of his diligence in making sure he followed the law applies to the current case of someone who “just forgot.”
Frankly, there’s no case here given the current mad-dog liberal gun temperament of northeastern states in this country. And, even if it did make it to SCOTUS, they will rule against him.
Yes: but in this specific case, on every stretch of my 7 hour journey EXCEPT the five minutes in Maryland I am legally permitted to carry a loaded weapon on my person. Not “unloaded, locked up, and inaccessible to me”. That’s the part that I find absolute garbage.
He should have. He made a mistake and is being treated like a criminal. Are you ok with him going to prison over a mistake? Shouldn’t Bundy have just paid his grazing fees?
Suppose you took the gun apart as you drove through a gun free state - the parts scattered around your car. Would this still be a violation?
“I’d be first in line to have it out in a fight that isn’t over stupidity.” What was he arrested for? Being stupid? No, he was arrested for having a gun: A right protected by the constitution and natural law. You wouldn’t fight over the right to keep and bear arms? This is cognitive dissonance.
Let me back up. I’m not saying you should go spring him out of jail, though that would be just. I’m saying you need to recognize this act of tyranny as a threat to your liberty. This is a law abiding citizen being treated like a criminal.
Virginia Gun Owner Being Unfairly Unconstitutionally Prosecuted In NJ For Accidentally Bringing A Gun Into The State...
Fixed.
No ‘should have’ about it. He violated their laws, unjust and as unconstitutional as they are, IMO, and I commiserate with his problem and would show leniency in fact. But Don’t blame me for his eff up in being forgetful and careless.
My daughter is so mad at me every time I speak with her on the phone because I ask her are her guns in the quick-safe by her bed so my grand daughters get to them (or how she has to protect the combination so they don’t see it, etc.), or when my wife goes out to my truck to get cigarettes and I hound her to “make sure you lock it.”
It is a right affirmed by the Constitution for dead certain. But it is not a right to be cavalier, forgetful or negligent.
Yep. Here's a really good 5 minute video on the topic.
The guy in NJ was an idiot for “forgetting”. The Florida man simply made the mistake of driving his own car on a family trip out of state—which always draws attention of the busy body cops, who then ran his plate and found out about his CCP in FL.
Only reason I mentioned it, was because it was sort of similar with the whole out-of-state gunowner traveler harrassment.
Conservatives should avoid the NE like the plague, but if you must go—check your baggage...pretty please.
If I have clothes on I always have my carry pistol on too. How am I going to know if it "needs" to be there in advance?
Scares me to think of someone else--maybe a guy like you, maybe someone far worse--deciding whether I "needed" it, before or after the fact.
Their “laws” violated the Constitution.
So he should take the year?
On this I wholeheartedly agree and would stand with you, Garand over my shoulder and Colt AR in hand and pistols in my belt to bring it to decision when the time comes.
I’m old enough to not care about stopping a bullet or two if it keeps someone younger alive long enough to really make a difference.
In the end, this won’t be solved with laws. It’ll happen like it has in the past.
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