Free Republic

While Brian Aitken’s The Blue Tent Sky: How The Left’s War On Guns Cost Me My Son And My Freedom is written is an unassuming and accessible way, it is by no means an ‘easy read.’ In fact, it will likely be the most difficult book you’ll ever read.Brian Aitken is a man who was forced into a tragedy thought inconceivable in the United States — being stripped of his family and his freedom all for owning a gun in New Jersey. When Brian was pulled over in 2009 he had not committed any crimes, the guns he would...

Brian Aitken of Hoboken was once inmate number 000737585C at Mid-State Correctional Annex State Prison in Fort Dix after he was arrested for unlawful possession of a handgun and ammunition. In January of 2009, after his mother was concerned for Aitken’s safety, she called police, but then quickly hung up. The police still came to their southern New Jersey home. They searched Aitken’s car and discovered three handguns, unloaded, in the trunk that were legally purchased in Colorado. Read more: Hudson Reporter - A Hoboken man and his guns After fighting wrongful sentence gets nod for Reformer Award Aitken had...

Sue Aitken called the police because she was worried about her son Brian. She now lives with the guilt of knowing her phone call is the reason Brian wound up sitting in a New Jersey prison. If it weren’t for a commutation of his sentence from the governor’s mansion, he would be stuck there for the next seven years. Aitken was sentenced in August for felony possession of a handgun. Before his arrest, Aitken, the owner of a media consulting business, had no criminal record. By all appearances he made a good-faith effort to comply with the stringent New Jersey...

Up until the point that they infringe on the Second Amendment, New Jersey’s lawmakers have every right to pass restrictive gun laws. To the extent that these laws have the support of the state’s population, legislators should pass them. That’s how constitutional democracy works. What no legislator should ever do, however, is allow the police to throw innocent, well-meaning people in jail. And that’s what New Jersey’s state government has been doing for the past several years. Utah’s Gregg Revell is a victim of this trend, but his is only the most recent story to make the news. Just last...

A New Jersey man whose seven-year prison sentence was commuted this week and is now seeking to get his felony gun charge conviction overturned blamed judicial "bullying" for his guilty verdict. Brian Aitken told Fox News on Thursday that he is armed with an e-mail he claims he received earlier this week from a juror who told him that then-Superior Court Judge James Morley pushed the jury into obtaining a conviction. "Interestingly enough, I got an e-mail from one of the jurors a night or two ago, and he told me, 'You know, we all pretty much knew what was...

THE RAZOR WIRE atop the prison fence glistened yesterday morning and winter's first winds whipped tears from Sue Aitken's eyes. But the foreboding walls, the frigid air and almost two years of guilt did not dampen her mood. "I haven't woken up with a smile in a long, long time," she said, beaming with excitement as she went inside. An hour later, her son, Brian Aitken, 27, walked out of Mid-State Correctional Facility, in Burlington County near Fort Dix, less than 24 hours after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie commuted to time-served his seven-year sentence for weapons possession. Christie's decision...

Brian Aitken, the New Jersey gun owner whose seven-year sentence for gun and ammunition possession was commuted yesterday by Gov. Chris Christie, will appeal, his lawyer has stated. The commutation does not expunge his conviction, and as such, Aitken is currently prohibited from owning firearms. I asked Aitken’s attorney Evan Nappen if there were any plans to try for pardon with full restoration of rights or some other strategy to effect the same, and if he had any statement for public consumption he'd care to make. His reply: Our next step is to win the appeal to vindicate Brian. I...

The Governor received 1,000s of calls yesterday....but was it enough? Let's make it a CALL TO ACTION Week! If you didn't have a chance, or want to keep making a difference, please pick up your phone and call Governor Christie at 609-292-6000. Wish him a Merry Christmas and ask him to please Free Brian Aitken!!!

Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey says he will likely make a decision on the case of Brian Aitken within the next couple of weeks. In a video released yesterday on Christie’s YouTube site, the governor acknowledged he is aware of the case, has begun to review documents and said, “I suspect I will be in a position to make a decision on whether or not I’ll intervene prior to Christmas. As The Daily Caller previously reported, 27-year-old Aitken was arrested in New Jersey in 2009 when police found he was transporting legally-owned and properly-stored firearms. This past August, he...

Frank Fiamingo of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society just called to let me know that this Sunday's planned rally to support Brian Aitken has been called off. Just why remains an open question. As you can see from the above video, Aitken wasn't shy in objecting to the highly questionable decision by an overzealous prosecutor to go after him for having guns for which he had a permit in his car truck. See my column here on that topic. Perhaps this represents some sort of positive development in the case. Perhaps the authorities have recognized the folly of keeping...

BELLEVUE, WA – Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation will travel to New Jersey Dec. 12 to join speakers at a rally in Toms River in support of Brian Aitken. The New Jersey man has been imprisoned for essentially having two legally-owned handguns in his car, parked at his parents’ home, along with other belongings he was moving to a new residence in another city. Gottlieb will join Scott Bach, president of the Association of New Jersey Association Rifle & Pistol Clubs (ANJRPC) at the microphone, along with radio personality Dennis Malloy, attorney and...

It is the kind of legal nightmare one only imagines from a Hollywood script writer, but right now in New Jersey, a man sits in prison who should not be there and his case has so outraged firearm civil rights activists that Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation, will be flying to the Garden State in several days to join in a demonstration in Toms River, N.J. Gottlieb will join Scott Bach, president of the New Jersey Association of Rifle & Pistol Clubs, radio personality Dennis Malloy and at least two membrs of the State Assembly, Michael...

A web page headlined by radio personalities Dennis & Michele on New Jersey 101.5 FM Radio has posted an appeal to Gov. Chris Christie to grant clemency to gun owner Brian Aitken, who was imprisoned for gun possession while moving between residences—something supposedly legal under both federal and New Jersey laws. CALL TO ACTION! Brian's lawyer is requesting Gov. Christie to commute Brian's sentence. The more letters he gets requesting clemency, the better! Please show your support and ask Gov. Christie to Free Brian Aitken, via e-mail or snail mail: http://www.state.nj.us/governor/contact/ Office of the Governor PO Box 001 Trenton, NJ...

Sue Aitken called the police because she was worried about her son, Brian. She now lives with the guilt of knowing that her phone call is the reason Brian spent his 27th birthday in a New Jersey prison last month. If the state gets its way, he will be there for the next seven years. Aitken was sentenced in August after he was convicted of felony possession of a handgun. Before his arrest, Aitken, an entrepreneur and owner of a media consulting business, had no criminal record, and it appears he made a good-faith effort to comply with New Jersey's...

"Hey David," the Facebook message began, "Thought you might be interested in Brian Aitken, in jail in NJ for 7 years for owning legal guns." I get people approaching me all the time wanting me to write about their legal cases. Most of the time, I get very subjectively-recounted narratives with very little to substantiate, and even less on what the defendants may have actually done. Experience has made me naturally wary of jumping on such bandwagons without investigation.Here's what I've found.His supporters have established the "Free Brian Aitken" Facebook page. Mission: To help free Brian Aitken, an innocent gunowner...