Posted on 06/08/2013 7:09:13 PM PDT by marktwain
HARTFORD -- A longtime gun owner who recently had his permit revoked over a 1971 Halloween egg fight was the inspiration for an amendment to the state's new gun law.
James E. Gorham, a 61-year-old Norwalk gun collector and target shooter, received a letter in January ordering him to turn in his guns; his one instance of teenage mischief disqualified him from legal gun ownership.
"I was first contacted by the Norwalk Police Department before I got a certified letter from the State Police," said Gorham, a businessman. "It was a real surprise. They told me I had been involved in domestic violence and I told them, `You've got the wrong person.' "
The letter referred to a misdemeanor charge for the egg fight, for which Gorham paid a $10 fine when he was 19.
So Gorham, manager of customer service and sales for the Norwalk Compressor Co., turned in his seven handguns to state police at Troop G in Bridgeport.
But his plight caught the attention of House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, who successfully introduced a change in gun legislation that will allow people like Gorham, with lower-level misdemeanors adjudicated before 1994 that do not involve drugs or firearms, to hold onto their guns.
During the General Assembly's debate on the release of photos of the school massacre victims this week, Cafero successfully argued that the rights of his constituent -- Gorham -- had to be protected and should be part of the amendments to the landmark April gun reforms.
Now, Gorham will get his guns back and he can resume target practice at Blue Trail Range in Wallingford.
The issue surfaced last year, when the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown sent law enforcement officials scouring through firearms records.
(Excerpt) Read more at ctpost.com ...
Are you sh*ttin’ me? Benghazi was “a long time ago” but this is recent? The Gestapo boys in Connecticut are doing way too many recreational drugs.
I hate this state!
So egg fights after1994 will still disqualify you. Maybe we should condenser the caliber of the egg.
Why just before 1994?
Shouldn't the threshold be based on the person's age or number of years before present to keep from sunsetting itself? The only laws that should sunset are those that LIMIT our rights (and THEY all should), not the ones intended to protect us. Like that stupid definition of antique firearms being based on the fixed date of 1898, rather than X years before present.
I'll wager he doesn't get them back or has to sue the police to get them.
You are correct. A small, reasonable compromise would be to define as antique any gun more than 50 years old.
Blue Trail blows, too.
Wait until IRS gets our digital medical records under Obamacare! Then we’ll see some action on Mental Health and gun ownership!
Let's apply this to this article and more drastically, criminals in general. The man in question long paid for his transgressions against society, and I think every one will agree he deserves to have his arms back. Now let's take a criminal that is released from jail today. He was in jail for 10 years for some offense. I really do not care what it is, but if justice is right, he paid his due to society. Doesn't this man deserve a clean slate at least for his most fundamental rights, such as a right to self defense? Is he able to speak his mind? Should he be subject to warrantless searchers? I contend he does.
Now if you have a problem with giving a man his rights back due to his actions in the past, perhaps he needs to stay in jail. There are plenty of offenses that I think demand longer jail terms. In other words, longer punishments. But most of America doesn't think in term of punishment for crimes, do they? Perhaps that is a problem in our justice system.
As a Christian I do not have a problem with punishment and redemption. We are all sinners. We all need forgiveness.
In the antique collecting world anything a hundred years old or older, is considered an antique, 50 years or older is considered an relic which is what the ATF goes by though instead of 1897 or older it should now be 1913 or older for antiques.
Until the Gun Control Act of 1968, that is how it worked, you could get your guns back, or buy a new one, even if you were a felon.
I like to think that things were better in 1968 than today ... and yes, I remember 1968, although I was not an adult. I certainly had more freedom and liberty, and for some time after that.
Just so it is known. I am completely against all gun control, even going back to 1934.
I hope it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle that the state of CT defined an egg fight as “violence”.
Please...
“I’ll wager he doesn’t get them back or has to sue the police to get them.”
Precisely what Mrs. RQSR, and I said as we read the article.
I was 18 in 1968 and could drive around with my .22 rifle in my car with hardly a glance from the police. Bought bricks of .22s for target practice at hardware and liquor stores. America was much freer then.
I have to think that it was the under GWH Bush that things started to go down hill. Clinton certainly made it much worse, and W. didn't do anything to improve it.
So in a roundabout way, confiscating guns from a 40-year-retired egg fighter will prevent mass murder...ok, got it.
Because it is for his buddy, not for the people of Connecticut?
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