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
Except NH.
And the fat-ass Governor wants to be President? Of what country? After 25 years of Northeast & Ivy League Presidents, look at the shape this nation is in. NO MORE Northeast & Ivy League liberals in that office.
Maybe there’s some hope then. You guys should form a real militia for the extreme “northern front’.....
You don’t know if you’re gonna be traveling to a state that has draconian gun laws? Give me a break.
I just think it’s time we rethink what we’re doing. Your position is the exact opposite of what it needs to be, given the atmosphere we’re in.
They know what they are doing. By arresting and prosecuting a non-violent, law-abiding person, they inflate the arrest numbers, can crow about it, and claim to be reducing “gun violence.”
It’s much easier to railroad an innocent, normal person than a real criminal. There are hordes of pig-tailed bleeding-heart defense lawyers who will rush to defend real criminals, especially if they have dark skin.
As I have said so many times, the left aims to take guns away from honest, non-violent, law-abiding citizens, while deliberately and intentionally leaving them in the hands of violent criminals.
I will not back down from what I said. I’m right.
You would think that would make the cops happy, but maybe not. Check out the video in my post #35.
And for those of you here who take issue with this let me ask you one question. Is there any point in time where you DON'T know the whereabouts of your handguns?
Frankly, I can appreciate your purist view even if it isn’t practical when choosing your plan and ground.
Your assessment that my position is opposite of what is needed is wholly inaccurate. To impugn my position because you cannot give up your defense of carelessness forgetfulness - whatever in his plight, is a weak argument in my opinion.
Of course we need to rethink and rearm the whole 2A thing. We just don’t need to hang our hats on a weak argument like this person’s plight. There are other venues out there where we can be more successful.
That goes without saying. You should never valet your car under any circumstances, unless you don't mind getting your car back with dents, scratches, and many more miles on it than when you relinquished it. This especially applies if your car is fast and expensive, such as a Corvette, Porsche, or the like.
No...he should be let off of the charge.
Just like the E. German Stasi; the American Stasi relies on Citizen Rats.
IF it happens, look for witnesses, CCTV cameras and the like and then flee in your car like you stole it.
“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.”
That’s the flaw in the Interstate Transportation of Firearms act. At the very least legal permit holders from other state’s should be protected even if their weapons are not stored. And I’ll even take it a step further to suggest that the right to keep and bear arms extends outside the home in general which should take precedence over any firearm laws to begin with. The problem of course is that such a case hasn’t yet worked it’s way through the SCOTUS although there are a few pending. Unfortunately in the mean time States like NJ feel they’re free to violate gun owners rights with their own constitutional interpretation that the gun laws they pass are constitutional. And let’s hope we see the NRA dig into it’s deep pockets and start to help people like this with legal assistance.
Even that is no guarantee of saving your bacon. If your planned trip is interrupted by weather or mechanical delays, the airlines will give you your checked luggage (they will NOT agree to hold it for the next flight), after they tell the local cops that you declared firearms. Off to jail with you.
And VT, and ME.
New Jersey is insane .... remember this story:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/18/traveling-mans-gun-arrest-appealed-supreme-court/
Please tell me how in a country such as we now have with our current varied gun laws how your belief of basic 2A rights (with which I wholeheartedly agree, BTW) and my original admonition of diligence and responsibility is 'cognitive dissonance?' If anything it is practicality unbridled.
Frankly, for you to then translate this instance and my replies/comments to questioning whether I would "fight for the right to keep and bear arms" is (I'm trying to be nice here) weak. It couldn't be farther from the truth, in fact.
I regularly dismissed cases filed against individuals like you in that MD jurisdiction who would forget they had their firearm and get caught. We had a PIA in the district court division of our office and all the defense counsel knew to prey a jury trial so that I could get the case and get rid of it. I never understood the logic of creating a criminal record for someone who had no criminal record and was committing no crime in their home state. But then I have a good grasp of the constitutional issues and the other prosecutor does not.
I know you are an attorney, but didn't know you were also a judge.
I never understood the logic of creating a criminal record for someone who had no criminal record and was committing no crime in their home state.
Good for you (and your jurisdiction).
5.56mm
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