UPDATE 12/9/2010 AT BOTTOM
Let’s pretend that you moved from Colorado to New Jersey. Now let’s pretend that you owned two handguns legally in your previous state and are in the process of transferring those weapons. Now let’s pretend the police search your vehicle, find the weapons locked and unloaded in a duffel bag. Finally let’s pretend that you’re serving 7 years in prison for illegal gun possession in New Jersey. It’s not make believe for Brian Aitken who just happens to be living the above nightmare.
How is it that absolutely no common sense was used in this case? How did an upstanding citizen, with a clean record who went about things the right way end up being sentenced to 7 years in prison for simply carrying unloaded, locked firearms in his trunk? By living in a very progressive State with harsh anti-gun policies that’s how.
You can read a more detailed account of his story here. Brian Aitken has petitioned Governor Chris Christie’s office for clemency. The Governor has yet to make a decision on the matter. If you wish you can go here to the Free Brian Aitken Facebook page and lend your support.
I’m also supplying a link to Governor Chris Christie’s office so you can voice your support for Brian Aitken directly to the governor. This is truly a travesty of justice and needs to be rectified. Hopefully Governor Christie will right the wrong that New Jersey’s draconian gun law has created.
The story of Brian Aitken is one of those that really gets your blood boiling. Not simply because this man is spending time in prison for something so trivial, but because it happened because of a simple lack of common sense. Visit the Free Brian Aitken Facebook page, contact Governor Christie’s office, do something to show your support. Do something to show that you stand among those who are sick of stupidity run amok in our society.
UPDATE: Good news. It looks as if Chris Christie will be taking up the matter of Brian Aitken vs. New Jersey’s stupid gun laws very soon. The governor says that he will decide if he will intervene before Christmas.
November 30th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
I feel for Brian and will support him.
But why did he not find out first what would be the case upon crossing borders ?
November 30th, 2010 at 7:35 pm
is micky still tlaking to himself on that other thread?
November 30th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Every time you hear New Jersey Governor Chris Christie touted as a viable candidate for president in 2012, please remember that Christie is one of the most virulent, lifelong, Dyed-In-The-Wool advocates of GUN CONTROL, ever.
We all remember what happened when Squirrel Hunter Bubba Clinton got his mitts on the ‘bully pulpit’.
December 1st, 2010 at 12:02 pm
But why did he not find out first what would be the case upon crossing borders ?
Actually Aitken did his due diligence in checking ahead of time that his planned activities were legal.
“In December 2008 Aitken made a final trip back to Colorado to collect the last of his possessions, including the three handguns he had legally purchased in Colorado—transactions that required him to pass a federal background check. Aitken and his friend Michael Torries had found an apartment in Hoboken, and Torries accompanied Aitken to Colorado to help with the last leg of the move. According to testimony Torries later gave at Aitken’s trial, before leaving Colorado Aitken researched and printed out New Jersey and federal gun laws to be sure he moved his firearms legally. Richard Gilbert, Aitken’s trial attorney, says Aitken also called the New Jersey State Police to get advice on how to legally transport his guns, although Burlington County Superior Court Judge James Morley didn’t allow testimony about that phone call at Aitken’s trial.”
This case is an outrage. As usual, Radley Balko over at Reason has a good analysis (which is where the above passage comes from):
http://reason.com/archives/2010/11/15/brian-aitkens-mistake
December 1st, 2010 at 12:33 pm
Well then weve got a real fcked up situation on our hands, dont we ?
Is there an appeal, will the phone call and all his inquisitions be allowed ?
Sounds like some cops had too much time on their hands with a judge covering that fact.