Herewith, a beautiful sight: This is Chris Christie pardoning Shaneen Allen, a single mother from Pennsylvania who had been prosecuted for taking a concealed weapon into New Jersey in violation of the law:
Allen has come a long way. At first it looked as if her mistake — she did not realize that her Pennsylvania concealed carry license wasn’t valid in every other state — was going to land her in prison for more than a decade, cost her her job as a medical practitioner, and take her away from her children. But then something remarkable happened: After the story hit the news, the widespread public outcry slowly but surely convinced the prosecutor to relent. Eventually, Allen was spared a jail sentence and the destruction of her life, and put instead into a diversionary program designed for first-time offenders. (That this program had previously been deemed good enough for the NFL’s Ray Rice, who had committed a violent crime, only added to the pressure.)
Christie’s pardon represents the end of the saga. It is, Christie wrote, “a full and free pardon for all criminal charges and indictments arising from the arrest occurring October 1, 2013.” Thus has the slate been wiped clean. Hurrah. Now to change those laws . . .