[motzman]

If you don't won't a record, then don't break the law.

What's that old saying about the only way to rule honest men? Something about making so many laws that everyone is a criminal in some capacity?

Here's one to think about:

A gentleman I worked for had recently moved from the Deep South to take a high-responsibilty job in NJ. He met a girl, and after she was caught cheating on him, they broke up. But she needed "revenge", so she claimed he "hit" her, called the local police (her brother was a cop, and father used to be the Chief) and lo and behold, he had a pistol in the trunk of his car, properly stowed and documented. He used to be a Deputy down South.

Now, in more sane places, an off-duty deouty is required to have a firearm, but in NJ it's a FELONY. When you move to a state, you don't get a handbook on all the ridiculous new laws your slapped with. So now, this once law-abiding "upholder" of the law now has spent over 10K and countless hours of garbage to try to not be "a felon". I don't know how it turned out, but I assume that he's screwed forever.

But that's a good thing, right?

[John Robertson]

Sorry, that's not working for me. This fellow's situation: I WAS a LEO in another state, and I'm no longer one, and I'm in a new state, but I want the old rules to apply in the new place? That is fairly tortured. If everything is as you say, I hope he gets a break--but it will derive literally on the mercy of the court, because on the law he is dead-bang guilty as charged.

How much of a deputy could he have been, BTW, to not know the law re guns? Or did he think he should be excepted, because he HAD BEEN a LEO?

And by the way, not to be provocative or snarky, but, as someone who's known a lot of cops, and had a few in the family: There is ALWAYS a story. I'm betting the one you recounted is not the whole thing.

[SALChamps03]

That is called an exception to the rule.

[The Red Zone]

a fuzzie ought to be the foremost person to be concerned about what the law is in a new place.