And a decent reason why its opposition are bad people.
Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler was taken into custody Thursday morning after he tried to check in for a Delta flight to Detroit with a locked gun box containing a Glock pistol and 19 cartridges of ammunition, Queens prosecutors said.
Meckler, 49, declared the weapon, as required, authorities said. He’s licensed to carry the gun in Grass Valley, Calif., where he lives, but that license isn’t valid in New York, which has strict rules on carrying concealed weapons, they said….The charge could carry prison time, but travelers who are arrested in such cases and appear to be trying to comply with the law typically pay fines.
Look this story is an example of what a fucking mess our national gun laws are, and how unconcerned with public safety the people who create these laws are. Really they’re just concerned with making life miserable for lawful gun owners. They do this because they hate them and hope their laws will repulse them to someplace else. (BTW it works)
So first up we have a guy who’s licensed to carry in California. So forget that bullshit of “Race to the Bottom”, California is the TOP when it comes to issuing carry permits, and most of the lawful residents of that state simply can’t acquire such a permit. He was likely as well trained in firearms as the officers who arrested him. The fact that it is completely impossible for this man to get a pistol permit in NYC shows a problem with New York, not with Mr. Meckler.
Further it wasn’t like he was still wearing his carry gun, locked-and-loaded as he strolled through the security area (Again I think airport security accomplishes nothing, and if they let me and everybody else who can lawfully carry a gun onto the plane as if I were stepping into my car, or a train, or a public bus, there would be no new danger introduced) instead the gun was unloaded, locked in a tamper-proof hard-sided container, and declared in his checked bags.
Essentially the one mistake he made was he flew out of New York City….and besides the fact that the United States has allowed that shithole to become a place where rule of law, and civil rights don’t apply, can you explain to me why picking this airport (or Logan International which is under equally stupid laws, or O’Hare in Chicago) Vs. Manchester Airport in New Hampshire, or Ronald Reagan in Virgina, was a “Mistake”?
The opponents say that HR 822 will make Conceal Carry laws a “Race to the Bottom”…I ask, is this proverbial “Top” any place we want our nation to be?
This post brought to you in part by BLNN, the Bubblehead Les News Network.
Looking at who he is, I wonder if this is a set up to be able to challenge the New York law under the Firearm Owners Protection Act.
If it is, I hope he wins.
The story is missing one important detail – was he just traveling through New York, or had he stayed overnight? I know NYC tends to ignore the travel portions of FOPA, so if he was in compliance with that it makes this a completely different story.
Of course, your point would still stand either way. And if it was a case of him misunderstanding the law, he still faces the permanent loss of his 2A Rights, and he will probably lose his California LTC no matter what, since he now has a felony arrest on his record (and the actual verdict will probably be irrelevant in CA – another illustration of the evils of “may issue” permits).
If HR-822 does pass, we just have to remember to watch it like hawks. I have no confidence of the feds resisting the temptation to use it as a basis to start exerting control over every state’s CCW requirements.
That’s the important point, Jake. An overnight stay would probably not get him the protection of the FOPA. If he had only come in to use the airport, it just might.
Of course, I wouldn’t mind a Circuit split on the “hotel stay” interpretation of FOPA, either. As it stands, getting stranded during a layover can make you a felon, if you’re not careful.
What I’d really like to hear is some asshole saying why a law abiding citizen with no criminal record, firearms training, and overall good character can’t carry his damn gun anywhere he so pleases!
Because passing over imaginary lines will make you a spree killer waiting to happen. It’s true, I read it on the interwebs.
Nothing like punishing good people making every effory to comply with stupid laws. If NYPD and related agencies would put forth as much effort fighting violent crime, NYC might not be such a craphole. (IMO)
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Update based on an article linked to by Newbie Shooter in his post, with a quoted statement from Mr. Meckler’s attorney.
So it sounds like he was in compliance with both FOPA’s travel provisions and TSA requirements.
Of course the worst states are fans of ignoring the FOPA, we’ll see where this goes.
And for added irony Cali is also notorious for ignoring FOPA.
New York is especially obnoxious on handguns.
You need a CCW to even posses a handgun in New York (no reciprocity). And they do not allow non-residents to apply (eve Mass allows that). So if you are not a New York state resident you are SOL. You also need special purchase permits before you can even buy a handgun even after you’ve been licensed.
Even if you’re passing through, which due to geography is required if you want to get out of the North East.
And this isn’t even counting New York City which adds a lovely layer of a 90 day waiting period between any purchase, a “home rule” CCW permit that is more insular and corrupt than Boston’s, oh and they have used their registration roles to do door to door confiscation of assault weapons. In 1991 I believe.
Yeah its a mess. FYI Mass Non-Res LTC is essentially Shall-issue, but its $100 for 1 year, and the application must be submitted in person (and in a shitty part of the state) so while you CAN get it, its going to cost you in time, and money.
BTW according to gun-banner Joan Peterson it wasn’t a Confiscation because the New Yorkers were compensated for their involuntary seized property.
But they aren’t coming for our guns at all!