Posted on 07/29/2009 6:49:22 PM PDT by greatdefender
Like America's first soldiers at the Battle of Brooklyn, Michael Littlejohn is fighting for his right to bear arms.
The Revolutionary War buff charges the Bloomberg administration with tyranny for trying to seize his handmade flintlock rifle - a dead ringer for the weapon once used against the redcoats.
"This is the last legal gun that you can have without registration in New York," Littlejohn said. "And yet Mayor Bloomberg is driven crazy by my flintlock gun - the one that won the American Revolution."
Littlejohn fired the first shot when he hired a Tennessee blacksmith to recreate the vintage rifle. It arrived at his Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, apartment in June - followed quickly by city cops.
Police claim it's illegal for Littlejohn to keep the flintlock without a gun license.
Littlejohn, 50, cites the earliest American patriots as his inspiration while refusing to surrender his firearm or apply for a license.
The social worker is also clinging to a little-known exemption in the city's strict gun laws.
The loophole allows license-free ownership of "antique firearms" - defined as rifles that require the bullet and gunpowder to be loaded separately.
Littlejohn's rifle appears to fit the bill.
Loading the weapon, he explains, is a multistep process that takes several pokes with a ramrod and up to a minute to complete.
To fire, the rifle relies on a sharpened piece of flint that produces a spark when the trigger is pulled. That point is moot, Littlejohn says: He doesn't own gunpowder or bullets.
That's not enough to make the NYPD retreat.
The cops visited Littlejohn's apartment and sat down this month with the Tennessee blacksmith who forged the rifle.
The lead detective on the case told Littlejohn's lawyer that he had orders "from higher-ups" to pursue the case, according to an e-mail the lawyer sent to Littlejohn.
Littlejohn's interest in the Revolutionary War dates to his childhood. He grew up playing tag outside the upstate Newburgh house used in 1782-83 as Gen. George Washington's headquarters.
As an adult, he joined in Colonial American reenactments in Virginia and Georgia.
The NYPD learned about Littlejohn's $825 rifle when he left a receipt inside a Staples copy center, prompting a call to the cops.
Cops aren't threatening to arrest Littlejohn - yet. Lawyer Joyce David, who represented Littlejohn until it became too expensive, says her ex-client could wind up with a summons.
A police source says the war could end peacefully if Littlejohn applied for a permit with the NYPD handgun license division.
Littlejohn would rather fight. The Brooklynite says he's willing to sue for his rifle rights.
Good work Bloomberg!
Hang in there Littlejohn (GREAT name btw).
How can we help? Letters/emails to RINO Bloomburg?
People, our Nation is infested with insane leaders! It is time to putthem out of office! It is time to push back on the nonsense! Why won’t the Sheeple awaken?
It doesn’t surprise me. New York City was the Loyalist stronghold in the Revolution, and the last city the British Army vacated in 1783. So this is just in keeping with New York City - no disrespect to the minority of Patriots there
Well, just the other day, The bloods and the crips formed lines and fired at each other with Brown Bess Muskets. It ended with a Bayonet charge.
A set of golf clubs is more dangerous. Will they outlaw golf clubs?
Well it is a replica.. and heck. even a origional brown bess musket could only be fired 3 shots per minute if the shooter was a Exceptional user.
Well it is a replica.. and heck. even a origional brown bess musket could only be fired 3 shots per minute if the shooter was a Exceptional user.
A police source says the war could end peacefully if Littlejohn applied for a permit with the NYPD handgun license division.
So they want him to make a false filing of his musket
on a handgun license. Oh that is real smart.
Just commit this little misdemeaner and we’ll forget
everything? Yeah, I believe that, don’t you?
They should tell Bloomberg to get his head out of his ass.
/s
Click...sss...boom! (sound of 200-year-old rap music) Wood on the inside, horses on the outside, wood on the inside, horses on the outside...
Bloomburg probably believes that declaring independence from the British was a bad idea.
“Good work Bloomberg!”
He’s just proving where the phrase “blooming idiot” came from.
That’s a hell of a handgun. This rifle is a replica. Did he have any black powder? doubt it. So, hey NYC what’s the deal. Oh I know, it is an evil looking black rifle. To the libs, it would probably qualify as an assault weapon. Better lock up your water guns.
Click...fsst...ffoooffff! Dammit! Flash in the pan again!! Clipclopclipclopclipclop...
$825 for a replica flintlock? What’s the name of that gunsmith! I wonder if he went with the original 69 to 75 caliber range?
You wouldn’t get so many flashes in the pan if you didn’t hold it sideways gangsta style.
Accuracy with Revolutionary War Muskets was within 50 yards.. 3 inchs. I doubt if a .58 musekt ball is going to take down a 727 or larger airliner
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