Governor Christie has commuted the sentence of Brian Aitken, the man whose conviction for illegally possessing a handgun has gained so much attention among the firearms community. Americans can learn 2 things from this. Number one, that Chris Christie is as reasonable and thoughtful with regard to NJ’s overly zealous gun laws as he is with everything else. And number 2, he will definitely be making a run at national office eventually. All of that is great news.
Just to refresh your memory, Brian Aitken was living in Colorodo when he legally bought 2 handguns. He then decided to move back to NJ. NJ’s law on transporting firearms is as "over the top" as all its other firearm laws. It not only requires that they must be in a case, unloaded, and out of reach, but that you can only have them in your vehicle if you are going to or coming from either the firing range, hunting, or moving them from house to house.
This reads a little tricky so let me explain again. If you are going to the shooting range, and have guns in your trunk (unloaded – and cased) it’s no problem. I’ve been pulled over on the way to the range and told the officer that I had guns in the car – I didn’t even get a ticket. However, if your plan was to go to the range later this afternoon but were planning on stopping at the mall for a few hours first, you would then be going from the mall to the firing range, and you’d be in violation of the law.
Did you get that? You can have them in the car only from your residence to and from the practice range, your residence to and from hunting, or your residence to and from your other residence. That’s it. If you take em anywhere else you’re in violation of the law. I know a guy who has his office in Greenwich CT and had planned to go shooting with his Spanish gun nut buddy during lunchtime one day at the Greenwich gun club. When he stopped at his office in the morning, he was in violation of NJ law even though his guns were properly stored. I know another guy who makes a habit of stopping at the deli to pick up a drink on his way home from shooting on hot days. I know another who stops to buy gas. They too are both in violation of NJ law.
In other words, while these laws may seem perfectly reasonable to ‘punish the innocent’ gun banning crowd, the way they are written makes them far too easy to violate. Even so, if I were pulled over on the way out of a gas station near my gun club, most policemen would have the good sense not to charge me with a gun crime on such a minute technicality. Most prosecutors would have the foresight not to try to prosecute me for it, and few judges would look at my offense of “getting gas on the way home from the firing range”, as requiring 7 years of jail time.
Alas, the people who crossed Brian Aitken’s path weren’t so reasonable. His guns were unloaded in cases in his trunk, and there was testimony that he was moving at the time from one residence in NJ to another. But he still got a felony firearms conviction and a sentence of seven years. To be fair, there were more details which muddy the waters a bit. And the consensus I’ve heard from legal friends was that although it was a technical violation, he probably was breaking the law.
Still, it was clear that he was pursued over zealously, and that a seven year sentence didn’t fit the crime, so Christie commuted it. Brian Aitken will be spending this Christmas with his mother (which if you google the long version of his tale you’ll see why I think that’s more than I would probably do).
The cost benefit on this one for Chris Christie is pretty straight forward if you ask me. He loses the vote of one Bryan Miller, the head (and very likely the last remaining member) of Ceasefire NJ, the hyperbolic gun ban lobbying group that has seen it’s star decline so dramatically in the last few years. And in the process he gets hundreds of thousands of New Jersey firearms owners who will at least listen to him make his case going forward. He shows himself as reasonable (which will only alienate Bryan Miller even further) and as meaning what he says when he talks about diminishing the role of government in our lives.
Back in the day as a federal prosecutor, Chris Christie signed on to the Assault Weapons Ban; arguably the stupidest firearms law ever written. It had basically no effect on crime (many argue that it was never intended to), but greatly inconvenienced law abiding gun owners. Many people still resent Christie's support of it. I don’t know if this will be enough to make the firearm rights community sign on to a Christie campaign for President. But I think this commutation shows him to be reasonable and not above changing things when the evidence indicates that the law (however well intended) was probably over the top.
He’s not pro-gun, but he’s got enough virtues in other areas that I think gun owners should give Christie a chance. I think this decision earns him that at the very least.
1 comments:
Great news indeed. In other ridiculous law enforcement news, check out this story:
Deer's rescuers face fines
By Laura Vozella
Monday, December 20, 2010; 9:22 AM
Two men who rescued a deer trapped in Patapsco River ice were each fined $90 by a state Natural Resources Police officer because they did not have life vests aboard the inflatable boat they used to reach the animal.
A 911 caller reported a deer stuck in the ice near Route 648 in Linthicum about 5 p.m. Thursday, Sgt. Brian Albert of the Maryland Natural Resources Police said.
A natural resources officer and a Baltimore County fire crew arrived and were discussing whether to attempt a rescue when two men on the scene decided they would do it themselves, Albert said.
"The river there, I'm told, is probably over 100 feet wide, maybe a little wider," Albert said. The deer was "out toward the middle" of the river, which "more than likely has some current," he said.
"The fire department was kind of game-planning what they would do," Albert said. "With Natural Resources Police, we will attempt, but we are not going to risk a human life for a deer life, as cruel as that may sound. . . . I'm as sympathetic as the next person on that deer being in the water, but when you weigh the risk to the reward, I would probably decide not to try to rescue that deer."
Firefighters and the natural resources officer advised the men not to go out on the water, particularly without life vests, Albert said.
But the men went out in their boat and freed the deer.
Jim Hart, 46, who lives in Carroll County, was driving by and stopped to see what was happening. "I saw something moving," he said. "I saw them trying to break the ice."
Khalil Abusakran, 33, from Baltimore County, said he also was driving by and saw people throwing rocks and sticks at the deer.
Abusakran got a rubber boat from his van. "The deer was stuck and couldn't get up off the ice," he said.
Abusakran and Hart got in the boat and went out into the water, which they said was about 10 feet deep. Hart said they had to work to break the ice using oars and shovels. The two men were finally able to break open a wide enough section of ice for the deer to struggle free.
Abusakran said he thought it looked like the deer was pregnant.
Hart said the Natural Resources Police officer issued him and Abusakran $90 citations for not having personal flotation devices on board. State law requires that all boaters have a personal flotation device with them at all times on any navigable body of water, though they are not required to wear them unless they are younger than 16.
Abusakran said he had two personal flotation devices in his boat and that he repeatedly told the Natural Resources officer that.
Albert said the men could have faced a stiffer charge: disobeying a lawful order.
"They could have been arrested and taken before a commissioner," Albert said. "Our officer erred on the side of the least invasive action that he could take at the time."
Hart said several people had contacted him and offered to pay the citation, but he said that's not the point.
The men said they will fight the citations in court Feb. 18.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/20/AR2010122001601_pf.html
Post a Comment