On a recent episode of the Lions of Liberty Podcast, I spoke with Brian Aitken, a man who was arrested for transporting his legally owned guns in New Jersey while moving residences. Due to a combination of unjust laws and overzealous, dishonest prosecutors and judges, Brian found himself sentenced to seven years in prison. However, he was free and able to come on my show, thanks to having his sentence commuted by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Now, Christie has once again helped an individual who was the victim of New Jersey’s draconian gun laws, Shaneen Allen, granting her a full pardon.

Allen was arrested for carrying her legally owned (in Pennsylvania that is) pistol in New Jersey. She openly offered this information to a police officer in good faith after being pulled over, confident that she had all the necessary paperwork to prove her legal ownership of the weapon. What she didn’t realize was that her concealed carry permit which allowed her to carry the gun in Pennsylvania did not apply to New Jersey, which theoretically allows concealed carry permits but rarely issues them to ordinary citizens.

Our own Felony Friday author John Odermatt wrote about the case of Shaneen Allen in September of last year:

The victimless crime referenced above is not a high-profile case, but rather involves a single mother from Philadelphia. She could be facing up to three years in prison for carrying her licensed Pennsylvania firearm across the imaginary border and into the state of New Jersey. Shaneen Allen, was pulled over in Atlantic County, New Jersey, for a routine traffic stop. The twenty-seven-year-old probably would have driven away with only a ticket if she had not been upfront telling the officer she had a licensed handgun in the vehicle. Allen informed the officer that she had a handgun in the car when he approached her vehicle. The single mother of two presented the officer her concealed carry permit for Pennsylvania. The officer rewarded her honesty by arresting her and charging her with unlawful possession of a weapon and armor penetrating bullets. Ms. Allen found out the hard way that Pennsylvania concealed carry permits are honored in thirty states, but the state of New Jersey is not one of them. If this wasn’t bad enough what happened next provides another example of the U.S. legal system not consistently protecting individual rights. Atlantic County Prosecutor Jim McClain and Superior Court Judge Michael Donio denied Allen’s acceptance into Pretrial Intervention (PTI), which would have assured that the single mother would not serve jail time. To add further insult to injury McClain and Donio would later allow Ray Rice, the football player that clocked his then fiancé in the face, into PTI and avoid jail time.

Yes, a single mother who owned a weapon simply to defend herself and her children was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, while a football player who had admittedly struck his fiance’s face received much less harsh treatment. There is no justice in a world where an individual who has harmed no one, but has merely found herself in the wrong place – and boy is New Jersey ever the wrong place for legal gun owner, as Brian Aitken can attest to – should face prosecution let alone the possibility of imprisonment, as Allen faced up to three years in prison, and spent forty days in jail before she could make bail after the arrest.

Chris Christie should be applauded for this move, even if it’s likely to be politically-motivated. But what move from a prominent politician isn’t? As Christie prepares for a possible run for the Presidency, he will continue to make moves that appeal to the right-wing base of the Republican Party, which just so happens to be pretty good when it comes to the right to bear arms. But Christie’s actions in the Allen and Aitken cases don’t necessarily jive with some of his past statements on guns, and it calls into question whether or not he actually has a principled stance here. It’s certainly possible he has reevaluated his positions over the years, but the timing does seem convenient, doesn’t it?

You can rest assured we here at Lions of Liberty will be closely monitoring the statements and actions of Chris Christe, as well as all of the Presidential candidates as they announce – especially you-know-who.

For now, we can celebrate at least a small victory for Shaneen Allen, but the larger problem of rights-infringing laws remains in place on a large scale, and to change that we must change the hearts and minds of our fellow citizens.

Join us, and ROAR for liberty any way you can!

Check out my interview with Brian Aitken for more on New Jersey’s insane gun laws.

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Liberty Links!

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