Posted on 01/03/2012 4:08:47 PM PST by Lancey Howard
Ryan Jerome was enjoying his first trip to New York City on business when the former Marine Corps gunner walked up to a security officer at the Empire State Building and asked where he should check his gun.
That was when Jerome’s nightmare began. The security officer called police and Jerome spent the next two days in jail.
The 28-year-old with no criminal history now faces a mandatory minimum sentence of three and a half years in prison. If convicted, his sentence could be as high as fifteen years.
Jerome has a valid concealed carry permit in Indiana and visited New York believing that it was legal to bring his firearm. He was traveling with $15,000 worth of jewelry that he planned to sell.
The online gun-law information Jerome read was inaccurate...
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
Well-said. These people made the mistake of trusting the police or security guard. Sergeantdave is correct. I need any cop’s advice like i need two nights in the pokey.
Surely some common sense lawmaker will come to this marine’s defense. Stories like this should not be happening in Amerika.
“If the lawyer were to mention nullification to the jury the judge would immediately slap him down and strike the statement from the record. Judges do not want you to know about jury nullification.”
The lawyer would be better off challenging it on Second Amendment grounds. Glen Reynolds (Instapundit) believes there is a good chance that the NYC law could be overturned as an infringement of the right to bear arms. (Paper on it: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1909617.)
Worth a try.
I thought I was a goner a few years ago.
I walked into a federal building to get some assistance from the IRS people. I almost always wear painter’s style pants with the side pocket meant for a hammer. In the hammer pocket I keep a knife. Not a folding knife, a real knife with a 4” blade in a sheath. Before going in, I took my gun out and locked it in the glove box. I didn’t think anything of the knife.
At the metal detector I emptied my pockets...wallet, two key rings, checkbook, change holder, ball point pen, cell phone, pen light, mechanical pencil, small needle nose plyers, and a few other things...and set my driver’s license on top of the whole pile of stuff. Then informed the man I was wearing steel toe boots, and walked through the metal detector.
The guy holding the bowl full of my stuff said “sir, would you come back here please”. I did. He said “is this your knife?” I said yes. He said “knives aren’t allowed in this building”. I said “that’s fine, I can leave it here and pick it up on my way out.” He said “No sir, you’ve already broken the law bringing it in here. There is a sign on the door that says no weapons allowed.” I said “that’s not a weapon, that’s a tool. Every place I’ve ever been to says it’s not a weapon unless over 4 inches and that knife is exactly 4 inches”.
He said “I’m sorry sir, that’s not the way it works here.” Then we just looked at each other for a few seconds. He said “take your things and get out of here and don’t come back until you aren’t carrying any weapons.”
I left without saying a word. I though I was going to jail for sure. This country is turning into a joke real fast. I’m serious when I say I feel like I don’t belong here anymore.
Don’t know about SF, but Seattle isn’t an issue - the State of WA is a Shall Issue state, and every time Seattle tries to “tighten” up firearm laws the State asserts its right to be the sole source of firearm regulations - and slaps Seattle down.
I’ve been told its even worse than that.
I’ve been told the average law abiding citizen commits at least one felony every 24 hours. I don’t know enough about the law to know what felonies I am committing...I couldn’t even begin to guess what they are (other than possibly driving through gun free zones) but I will take their word for it.
A similar bill almost passed in Wisconsin last year. I am not sure how many states require places that ban legal firearms to provide for a secure place to check them. It is a reasonable first step toward re-legitimizing the Second Amendment.
If I'm not mistaken, all it takes is one juror with an IQ over 90 to say, "No, I will not find this Marine guilty."
In a sane state, the governor would simply pardon the Marine immediately. But New York is most definitely not a sane state.
Exactly correct. I am surprised that no one has posted the appropriate quote from "Atlas Shrugged" yet.
Yeah, that's another part of this I, too, found interesting. But even if I had ever heard of "checking" a weapon, I most definitely wouldn't hand my gun over to anybody.
Agreed, most judges do not want the notion even raised. But if the lawyer can cleverly sneak the idea through to the jury, the judge can "strike it from the record" all he wants but the jury won't unhear it. The lawyer then needs to be sure to slip the idea in again at closing arguments. "Ooops...! Sorry judgie."
The lesson I take away is to never visit NYC.
It’s too risky if you’re not well versed in their unusual laws.
“However, if you are in this country illegally and have stolen an American’s identity in order to work and/or steal welfare benefits, Barry and Eric love you!”
Ain’t that the truth.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083866/news?year=2000
She ended up serving ten days of community service:
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20132661,00.html
And not only does she not have a carry permit, she's a prohibited person, for whom simple possession of a firearm is a federal felony with a mandatory five-year sentence.
Of course, she's one of the "special" people. Can our marine expect similar leniency?
There was a case exactly like yours in Milwaukee about 10 years ago. The “criminal” was trying to take a plea bargain, but the judge refused the plea and dropped the charges saying a tool shouldn’t count as a weapon unless it was used as one.
Unfortunately, that judge was thrown off the bench a couple years later.
The only thing I can figure out about these two, is that they are part of a movement to get the Sullivan Act and other onerous NYC gun laws repealed.
Well, you went through the federal fascist wringer.
I’m happy you escaped.
It’s time to put fascist federal pigs through the state wringer. Arrest these pigs for carrying arms without state permission. Arrest their families for flushing toilets. Throw them in prison for filling a kid’s swimming pool.
It’s time for states to arrest federal fascist pigs.
Now THIS is what I call something to get truly scared over. We have guns, we can hold govt accountable. We dont, then...
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