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Gov. Chris Christie signed a pardon for Shaneen Allen at noon on April 2, 2015. Allen had been arrested for carrying a legally-owned firearm into New Jersey from Pennsylvania, where she has a permit to carry the gun concealed on her person. (Credit: The Office of Gov. Chris Christie | State of New Jersey)

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie has granted a pardon to Shaneen Allen, the Pennsylvania mother and gun owner who was arrested in October 2013 for carrying a concealed weapon into New Jersey.

Allen, a single mother of two, was stopped by a New Jersey state trooper in Hamilton Township near Atlantic City for performing an unsafe lane change. During the stop, Allen had informed the officer that she was a resident of Pennsylvania and that her home state had issued her a permit to carry a concealed handgun, which she had with her in her car that day.

But New Jersey's strict gun laws require weapons to be stored unloaded and locked in the trunk, and so Allen was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and spent 40 days in jail before making bail.

Last September, she was allowed by the Atlantic Country prosecutor to enter a pre-trial intervention program that would spare her the mandatory 3-year prison sentence which is automatic under New Jersey law.

Her attorney, Evan Knappen, of Eatontown, said the Allen case lead to the Office of the Attorney General issuing new guidelines that allow people who are legally entitled to carry firearms in their home states to enter diversionary programs instead of heading directly to a Garden State prison if charged with violating state law.

"It was quite a fight for her down there in Atlantic County, and it led to significant changes," Knappen said. "Hundreds of folks were helped by her case...It's a little absurd to take someone who's a law abiding citizen in their home state but then put them into a New Jersey state prison for a mandatory 3 to 5 year sentence and make them a felon."

Christie, in signing the pardon, cleared Allen on the gun possession charge as well as a related ammunition charge.

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