Have Gun ㅡ Won't Travel

There are a lot of dumb crooks these days and there are also a lot of dumb laws. I don't have an example of a dumb crook, but I do have an example of a dumb law. This example takes place in New York City, the home of gun control fanatics; NYC is like our version of London. Anyway, two licensed gun owners from Georgia were arrested and jailed for owning guns.

The facts

Both Patricia Jordan and Avi Wolf, the gun owners, followed the TSA guidelines for transporting firearms. You can read the guidelines at the TSA website, if you would like.  Patricia Jordan stored her unloaded firearm in a TSA approved case and declared that her checked bag contained just that, which was fine with the TSA. Avi Wolf declared his empty gun magazine, which was fine with the TSA.

So, everything was going fine for each person, until they tried to fly out of NYC. According to Reason.com, "Patricia had tried to declare her gun, which was unloaded and in a TSA-approved case. Avi was trying to declare an empty gun magazine–essentially a piece of metal with a spring in it." After which they were arrested by NYC authorities and thrown in jail for a day. Both of these "offenses" apparently broke New York law.

Also from Reason.com, "They were threatened with three years and six months in jail–the mandatory minimum for having a gun in New York. They spent months worrying about how to beat the charge. Each spent more than $15,000 in legal bills."

Jordan and Wolf were eventually let off with a violation of "public disorder".

The District Attorney on this matter and his response was, “We are not going to apologize for enforcing our gun laws. We do enforce them fairly and humanely and as compassionately as we can. … You can discuss that with the legislature. They didn’t make it a crime only if there’s bullets in it.”

Let me remind the reader that neither Wolf or Jordan had a loaded firearm with them. Jordan's gun and magazine were separated and Wolf only had an empty magazine. 

The funny part of the story is that in an interview with Wolf he said of his cellmates, "One guy beat up his wife, this other guy was busted for a whole bunch of drugs. So they’re like, what did you do? Why are you here? It’s like I got caught at security with an empty magazine. … [They] just laughed at me; like it was a joke.”

This isn't a first time occurrence as other people have been arrested for possessing a firearm with an out-of-state permit. The state of New York doesn't recognize out-of-state gun permits.

My take

First of all, New York City's law violates the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which reads: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." I know this amendment is now a point of debate, even though it's clearly stated and a part of our own legal system. New York City's passion for controlling gun laws has caused them to lock up legal gun owners who are not even moving to the city.

Secondly, even though the citizens of New York City are having their Constitutional rights violated by their legislature, why should citizens of other states be arrested and prosecuted for possessing a firearms legally licensed to them? It makes no sense for the city to do such a thing unless it's for the purpose of making a political statement against gun ownership. Maybe New York isn't making a political statement, but it seems like it's not about enforcing laws, since out-of-state citizens are being arrested.

I'm a supporter of States' rights and all, but this is an overreach on New York's part. They shouldn't arrest someone for having a firearm when they are registered in another state and follow TSA guidelines for transporting their firearm. If Jordan and/or Wolf were moving to New York, then it would be a little different. However, they were simply passing through the airport to go somewhere else.

New York has a pretty good racket going on here and it should be stopped by the New York legislature, because they are in violation of the Constitution.