by guest contributor Brian Aitken
Surprise, New Jersey’s all over this list.
It’s getting harder and harder to go online without seeing another person facing the guillotine for owning guns in America.
So, in honor of the first crowdfunding campaign to have an AR-15, Glock, and a 1911 as “perks” I’ve put together this list of national embarrassments. And when I say national I mostly mean New Jersey.
Here goes.
10. Donald Montgomery
Not even retired cops are safe from Cuomo’s gun grabbing SAFE Act. Montgomery, who served in the US Navy and was a police officer for 30 years, had his pistol license revoked and guns confiscated after voluntarily going to the hospital to get treatment for insomnia. New York’s SAFE Act encourages health care professionals to report people who own guns to have their firearms confiscated. Currently, over 34,500 people have been reported. Montgomery is suing Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other state officials for violating his constitutional rights.
9. Marissa Alexander
Nine days after giving birth, Marissa Alexander fired a warning shot into the air to fend off her abusive husband who had a court injunction against him for beating Alexander while she was pregnant. She faced up to 60 years in prison for firing that warning shot. I forgot to mention, this happened in Florida of all places. I didn’t even think they had any gun laws down there. She was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years behind bars. Alexander spent three years in prison before overturning the conviction on appeal. She plead guilty to charges of assault in order to avoid a new trial and remains a convicted felon.
8. Jeffrey Muller
In 2010 Jeffrey Muller was mistaken for another Jeffrey Muller–a New York money broker–and kidnapped from a pet store he owned in New Jersey. He managed to escape from his captors somewhere in Missouri and eventually made it back to the Garden State, albeit a little bruised and beaten. He applied for a concealed carry permit to protect himself but, in New Jersey, one must articulate “justifiable need” for having a permit to carry a weapon and a judge rejected Muller’s permit application. Apparently, being kidnapped and beaten doesn’t meet the threshold for “justifiable need”. The decision was later overturned, and after what I’m sure was tens of thousands of dollars later in legal fees, Muller was granted his concealed carry permit.
7. Greg Revell
Greg Revell spent 10 days in a New Jersey jail because his flight was delayed. Revell began his journey in Utah, where he lives, and had connecting flights in Minneapolis and Newark on his way to Allentown, PA. Unfortunately, his flight from Minneapolis to Newark ran late and he missed his connecting flight to Allentown. So he grabbed his belongings, including his legally owned firearms and ammunition, and checked into a local hotel until he could grab the next flight to Allentown. When he tried to declare his firearms at the airport the next morning he was reported to the TSA and arrested for illegal possession of a firearm. The charges were dropped a few months later, but it would be 3 years before Revell would get his guns back.
6. Steffon Josey-Davis
Steffon Josey Davis was an armored-car driver with plans of attending the police academy when he was pulled over and his nightmare began. He owned a Smith & Wesson 9mm for work and had left it in his glove box earlier that day. In New Jersey, Davis was required to have a Concealed Carry Permit in order to have his firearm in his glove box. Davis faced up to 10 years in prison but took a plea deal where he confessed to unlawful possession of a weapon, a second degree felony, and was given one year probation. Thanks to the Graves Act those found guilty of that crime face 5-10 years in prison with a minimum mandatory sentence of 42 months incarceration. In many ways he’s lucky, most otherwise law-abiding citizens don’t have the Graves Act waived for them, but his dreams of becoming a police officer are indefinitely postponed. He’s now in the process of appealing the decision and petitioning Governor Chris Christie to grant him a pardon.
5. Mark Witaschek
Mark Witaschek spent two years being prosecuted for having a misfired shotgun shell and a box of muzzleloader bullets in his Washington D.C. home. District police searched his residence twice for firearms at the request of a bitter ex-wife who claimed he kept guns in his DC home, but police never found any firearms. They did find, and charge, him for having bullets used in antique replica firearms. Muzzleloader bullets differ from “ammunition” because they are just the projectile and require a primer and gun powder in order to be fired. The prosecution refused to drop the charges against Witaschek and he was eventually found guilty of “attempted unlawful possession of ammunition”. Shortly after he was found guilty the Office of Tax & Revenue began an investigation into the businessman’s taxes. Witschek is appealing the ruling because muzzleloader bullets are not “ammunition” as defined by the law. He now has a weapons conviction on his record. In contrast, David Gregory, host of a tv show on MSNBC that I’ve never actually seen, was not prosecuted for possessing a high capacity magazine on live television in violation of DC law. Rules for thee but not for me, I suppose.
4. Brian Aitken
In 2009 I was arrested for having firearms I owned legally locked and unloaded in the trunk of my car while moving from my parents house to an apartment in Hoboken, New Jersey. In a Family Court hearing a judge told me gun owners were essentially unfit to be parents and he, in all practical terms, revoked custody of my then one-year old son. I turned down almost a dozen plea offers because I felt I had done nothing wrong. I had even called the New Jersey State Police 3 days before I was arrested to ask them how to transport my firearms while moving. At trial, the judge refused to let the jury know what the Federal and State laws are that protected my right to transport my firearms without a concealed carry permit. I was sentenced to 7 years in prison and spent 4 months behind bars before tens of thousands of people convinced Governor Chris Christie to commute my sentence. The New Jersey Appellate Division has since overturned the convictions of Illegal Possession of Firearms and Illegal Possession of High Capacity Magazines. My experience is the subject of the bestselling memoir The Blue Tent Sky: How the Left’s War on Guns Cost Me My Son and My Freedom. I have not been allowed to see my son in six years and am presently crowdfunding to raise money for the legal fees to regain custody of my son.
3. Logan Aitken
The family of those prosecuted under draconian gun laws often go overlooked, but they are all victims of stupid gun laws. Shaneen Allen’s two young sons almost spent the better part of a decade without their mother for no good reason. Worse, my son HAS spent the better part of a decade without his father for no good reason. All of the people on this list have family, and they all suffer the intended consequences of these horribly inappropriate laws. My only resolution for 2015 is getting my son back. He’s suffered enough already and he deserves to know his father is out there and loves him. If you’d like to help, I urge you to visit my fundraiser at www.loganshero.com.
2. Shaneen Allen
Perhaps the most famous Second Amendment case of the past year is Shaneen Allen’s battle against New Jersey’s draconian gun laws. In October of 2013, Allen was pulled over in New Jersey and immediately told the police officer that she had a firearm and handed him her Pennsylvania State Concealed Carry Permit. However, New Jersey does not have reciprocity with Pennsylvania–or any other state–so her permit was invalid. She faced ten years behind bars until public outry led to the New Jersey Attorney General issuing a directive to prosecutors to provide defendants in cases like Allen’s with probation. She has since lost her job as a medical professional and is unable to own a firearm while on probation.
1. Gordon VanGilder
This is the most outrageous case in a long time and has just made national news over the past few days. VanGilder is a 72 year old retired school teacher who collects 18th century artifacts. He was arrested for having a nearly 300 year old flintlock pistol in the glovebox of his car by a New Jersey sheriff in 2015. Prosecutors refuse to drop the charges and he refuses to accept their plea deals. VanGilder is currently facing up to 10 years behind bars, with a minimum mandatory sentence of 42 months incarceration if found guilty. Federal law exempts antique firearms from being classified as illegal weapons but New Jersey includes antique firearms in their definition of illegal weapons. His case is ongoing. “I’ve been thrown to the lions, so I’m going to fight back,” VanGilder told NRA News, “I want these people to know they’re messing with the wrong guy, because I know my rights and they’re not going to get away with this.”