Up until the point that they infringe on the Second Amendment, New Jersey’s lawmakers have every right to pass restrictive gun laws. To the extent that these laws have the support of the state’s population, legislators should pass them. That’s how constitutional democracy works.
What no legislator should ever do, however, is allow the police to throw innocent, well-meaning people in jail. And that’s what New Jersey’s state government has been doing for the past several years.
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Utah’s Gregg Revell is a victim of this trend, but his is only the most recent story to make the news. Just last week, the Supreme Court declined to consider his lawsuit against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which had been dismissed by a lower court. The court decision is debatable, but what’s certain is that what happened to Revell under New Jersey law was unconscionable.
His lawsuit stemmed from his arrest in New Jersey in early 2005. Revell had booked a flight from Salt Lake City to Allentown, Pa., which included a transfer in Newark. He was picking up a car he had bought online and driving it back to Utah, so he wanted his handgun with him for protection. As the law requires, he declared the gun when he checked his bag.
Unfortunately, his flight was late, and the airline decided to send passengers to Allentown via bus. He checked to see whether his luggage was on board — and it wasn’t. The airline had tagged it to stop at Newark. He left the secure area to get his bag, the bus left without him, and the airline decided to put him in a hotel for the night.
The next morning, though he was (once again) boarding a bus to Allentown, he needed to go through flight security — and that’s when problems started. He declared his firearm at the ticket counter, and again to the TSA. “They went in back, then came up and asked for the keys,” he recalls. “They opened them and decided they would call the police.”
Revell was arrested. In New Jersey, residents are forbidden to have their guns with them outside their homes, unless they have a New Jersey carry permit or qualify for an exemption to the law. Federal law protects people who are simply passing through a state with guns, but it does not specifically say that it applies when guns are being carried by hand, as opposed to being stored, unloaded, in a vehicle.
Police handcuffed Revell and brought him out of the airport. “All the mothers were pulling their children close to them because of this dangerous criminal coming through,” Revell remembers. He spent a total of ten days in jail. He was held first in a Port Authority holding cell, next in an Essex County cell with about 20 other inmates and a toilet that didn’t flush. He was in quarantine, about to be transferred into the general population — no place for a 57-year-old white man, other inmates warned him — when his $15,000 bail came through.
It took two months for the charges to be dropped via an “administrative dismissal.” “I thought I would lose my real-estate license, because you can’t have one if you’re a felon — and go back and be killed in jail,” he says. “Not a fun two months.” Later, the NRA and the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs helped him sue the Port Authority. The courts, however, decided that the federal law protecting the transportation of handguns did not apply to his situation.
Revell isn’t the only person who’s been tortured by New Jersey’s gun laws. Especially problematic is the Graves Act, which was a perfectly fine policy when it was enacted in 1981: It stated that when someone uses a gun to commit a crime, that person shall serve a minimum sentence of three years. In early 2008, however, then-governor Jon Corzine signed an amendment to the law, aiming to combat gang violence. Now, with a few exceptions, anyone caught with an illegal gun — no matter how obscure the technicality or how innocent the mistake that made it illegal — gets a three-year sentence.
I love the statement: "Bramnick says it’s difficult to draft a law that will give leniency in sympathetic cases, while still being tough on people who keep guns with them for illegal purposes."
Do these people live on the same planet as me? Are they unable to notice that dozens of other states have gun laws that protect the rights of innocent people and don't treat them like criminals? Why would they think that what works for the rest of the nation won't work for them?
One of the main reasons I moved from the People's Republic of New Jersey to Florida (besides the outrageous taxes)is that gun owners are treated like citizens, not criminals.
Maybe Chris Christie can do something about the situation, but I'm not holding my breath.
NRO: "Up until the point that they infringe on the Second Amendment, New Jersey’s lawmakers have every right to pass restrictive gun laws. To the extent that these laws have the support of the state’s population, legislators should pass them."
Constitution: "...the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED."
Right up to the point where they even think about it is the point where lawmakers should stop before infringing, at all, the peoples' right. Despite the popularity of the infringement by well-meaning statists trying to protect us from ourselves.
The constitution is supreme, above the tyranny of the majority. Or is New Jersey an Ochlocracy ruled by a mob of nannies?
"...the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
As long as you are in your home or at a shooting range? How this law has passed constitutional scrutiny is beyond me. The Constitution protects a right of the people. It does not spell out certain circumstances but rather gives a broad protection. There is a way to change these legal protections called the amendment process.
Living in the Peoples Republic of NJ (PRNJ) makes the prospect of going "South of Heaven" when I die seem like a tropical vacation. And the gun laws are such a big part of what makes this state so terrible. If the police are looking for any reason whatsoever to make your life a disaster just because they can, they trot out a gun law.
I can't wait to get out of this toilet. And for you people in America, flush twice since its a long way to Jersey.
"In New Jersey, residents are forbidden to have their guns with them outside their homes, unless they have a New Jersey carry permit or qualify for an exemption to the law."
Is this true? When I went to pick up my permit to purchase a hand gun, the detective explained how to transport the fire arm. The above implies that I can't even take my fire arm to the range without being in jeopardy. "Carry permit" makes it seem like he is writing about a concealed carry permit. Or was the author using "carry permit" for the basic gun license which allows one to purchase long arms but requires an additional application each time one wants to purchase a hand gun?
This very subject (and its unlikely change) is one of the two biggest reasons why I'd never vote for Christie as President.
Christie is on the "Bloomberg wagon" of where he thinks if you aren't a cop, protecting his butt, or otherwise doing national/public security work for the government, then the only reason you would have a firearm is to commit a crime with it - shooting someone to defend yourself, your family, or your property being listed under the heading of "gun crimes".
Christie also thinks people are causing the sky to fall and melt the icebergs.
I live in NJ and was considering buying a BB gun to eliminate the various pests that have been chewing holes in my house. Because a BB gun is considered to be a full-fledged firearm, equated with handguns, shotguns, and rifles, I cannot discharge one on my property. Furthermore, as the article suggests, I could be thrown in jail for transporting it. I guess I'll just have to keep paying the carpenter to fix my house.
New Jersey doesn't want people to own guns. Any action taken to modify the Graves act is simply a way to avoid embarrassing publicity. If you want to be able to protect yourself from criminals don't go to New Jersey.
"With its hands tied, the jury found Aitken guilty." What does this mean? A jury's hands are never tied. In the last resort, if they don't like the prosecution's attitude, they can always find the victim not guilty.
Oy! Michigan is just about as bad (another potential job opportunity, but not worth jail-time).
I live in Alaska where one doesn't even need a permit to carry a handgun. I don't even carry here, and have no concern when walking down the street.
I think gun freedoms are much like the equation y = 1 / x The more freedom you have, the less you 'need' a firearm (or pen). The less freedom you have, like in Egypt, the more you actually need that firearm.
The Second Amendment says what it says quite clearly. Human beings have a right to carry arms and the national government is forbidden to interfere with that right. The Fourteenth Amendment requires the states and inferior governments to follow suit. Both amendments are limitations of government authority, not people's rights.
