The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish!
-- Frederic Bastiat, The Law
New Jersey Man Serving Seven Years for Guns He Legally Owned
When Mount Laurel police arrived at the Aitkens' home on Jan. 2, 2009, they called Brian - who was driving to Hoboken - and asked him to return to his parents' home because they were worried. When he arrived, the cops checked his Honda Civic and, inside the trunk, in a box stuffed into a duffel bag with clothes, they found two handguns, both locked and unloaded as New Jersey law requires.
Aitken had passed an FBI background check to buy them in Colorado when he lived there, his father said, and had contacted New Jersey State Police and discussed the proper way to transport them.(Jason Nark – NJ Man Serving 7 Years)
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
There are three linchpins to this story of a law-abiding entrepreneur condemned to prison for seven years:
Sue Aitken, a trained social worker, decided to play it safe and called police...The Good: A social worker mother conditioned to call the authorities to intervene in the private affairs of free people. Her son, Brian Aiken, was distraught over a dispute with his ex over seeing his son. He was so distraught he... he... (are you ready for this) he calmly continued moving his things to his new house.
The Bad: A nation of mistrustful batwinged lawmakers who know no more about writing just law than I do about writing a ballet.
The stinking statist sewer known as New Jersey (I know, Chris Christie is trying) actually has a law that criminalizes a free man who securely transports unloaded firearms in his trunk. The law is convoluted and full of tedious rules and legal minutiae, guaranteed to confuse a reasonably intelligent non-lawyer.
Aitken's mistake was leaving God's country, where Colorado law allows us to carry a loaded gun in our car. Men and women are still free out here. For the bonus round, go google which state has more gun violence.
The Ugly: A police force that ignores timeless principles of criminal intent and common sense. A black-robed judicial mullah who turns the legal system into his own petty fiefdom
A worried mother saying she is scared he might "do something" is not probable cause to search a man's car, especially if the person is going about his business and not exhibiting threatening behavior. If you didn't buy George Bush's preventive wars, you also cannot defend preventive justice. It opens a pandora's box and it is a violation of our constitutionally-protected rights.
If this were still the United States of America and we were still a free people, a citizen with no criminal record like Mr. Aitken would point out to the cops that he had committed no crime, had no intention of committing one, and then politely tell them to buzz off. But now, as anyone who has done the perp walk though the the TSA Grop and Grab Gauntlet at the airport knows, probable cause is whatever the authorities say it is.
The judge, since dismissed by Governor Christie for judicial stupidity in an unrelated case, turned the law into a game of gotcha. Instead of evaluating Mr. Aitken's actions against the law and judging criminal intent, he disallowed his lawyer's line of defense and sent Aitken to jail for seven years.
"Show me the man and I'll find you the crime."Gordon Crovitz, in reviewing Harvey Silverglate's book, Three Felonies a Day, explains how the vagueness and complexity of unjust laws provide police and prosecutors a sea of ambiguity in which to fish for “criminals.”
-- Lavrentiy Beria, Head of Stalin's Secret Police
He concludes:
These miscarriages are avoidable. Under the English common law we inherited, a crime requires intent. This protection is disappearing in the U.S.A man-made law that contradicts natural law and the natural rights of free men is an unjust law. Legislators who make such law, and imperious jurists who give them the seal of approval must be turned out.
Prosecutors identify defendants to go after instead of finding a law that was broken and figuring out who did it. (L Gordon Crovitz – Three Felonies a Day)
E-mail Governor Christie's office and request he correct this gross miscarriage of justice and grant clemency Brian Aitken.
See Also: Reason – Brian Aitken’s Mistake
12 comments:
What is the matter with our common sense in America? I guess there isn't any, anymore!
All should petition Gov. Christie on this matter.
During the Clinton administration the requirement for federal prosecutors to show criminal intent in trial was quietly dropped.
This opened anyone to prosecution for unknowingly violating a federal law - even when there was no intent of criminality or even victims of the "crime". Almost every one of you reading this blog is an unindicted felon, thanks to Congress.
Welcome to being ruled over by the "free love" and "down with authority" generation. People who can't control themselves often look to control others.
The greatest generation gave birth to the worst generation, in my view.
The 4th is starting to seem like a fairy tale
Realize that Police officers have authority to bring any case into the justice system or not. This means that if Police officer A had interacted with a fellow police officer or family member, than they are allowed to ignore the law if they so choose. If the American People expect those from foreign countries or young people to respect our laws, then the law enforcement methods must be fair and balanced. Thus if an officer pulls you over, he should be prepared to write a citation not planning to get his face in the newspaper for a drug bust he/she stumbled on to.
Don't forget everybody that Feb 11th, 2011 is Ronald Reagan's 100th biirthday. I hope you are all joining the number of blogs and 501.3Cs that are making Reagan Day possible.
Wow! This is truly unbelievable! It's hard to believe that Americans are being treated like criminals.
Whoa!
I am completely and utterly flabbergasted by this case and glad I now live in Colorado. I've already emailed Gov Christie and let him know my position, specifically regarding visiting family in NJ if this travesty of justice is allowed to prevail.
Doing my own research, I found this astounding tidbit about Judge Morley from the Philadelphia Inquirer (We were always Bulletin readers, but since its demise, The Inquirer is THE Philly paper).
A few weeks after Aitken's trial over the summer, Morley learned that Christie was not going to reappoint him, due in part to a 2009 case in which he dismissed animal-cruelty charges against a Moorestown cop accused of sticking his penis into the mouths of five calves. Morley said there was no way of knowing whether the calves had been "puzzled" or "tormented" by the officer's actions.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/111025129.html#ixzz16uwvo4PU
Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else
"If this were still the United States of America and we were still a free people:"
It's not and we are not. Those days are gone.
Painting the entirety of the United States of America with the broad brush of New Jersey craziness is a bit premature, if not downright inaccurate.
Blue states such as New Jersey will ultimately fail under the burden of their liberal government policies, such as uncontrolled social spending, uncontrolled state government spending, uncontrolled public union feather bedding and pension abuse, etc. Once they fail and collapse, grown ups will move in and clean up the place. Some might argue that NJ collapsed already, and the grown ups elected Chris Christie to clean up Dodge City.
Chris Christie (R-NJ) has his hands full, but I suspect he will reign in some of this craziness given time.
Fredd,
I specifically say that states like Colorado are not the same as NJ.
What can be broad brushed is the making of horribly crafter frankenstein law. They do it all the time at the federal lever. More broadly, progressivism has ushered in an era of lawmaking abuse, making a mockery of the rule of law.
Silver: I should have directed that comment to Most Rev. Gregori, not your post. Apologies for the omission.
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