Gulag America

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 penalized the man be disallowing his lawyer's line of defense.
"Show me the man and I'll find you the crime."
-- Lavrentiy Beria, Head of Stalin's Secret Police
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.”

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. 

As Mr. Silverglate writes, "Since the New Deal era, Congress has delegated to various administrative agencies the task of writing the regulations," even as "Congress has demonstrated a growing dysfunction in crafting legislation that can in fact be understood." 

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)
 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.

E-mail Governor Christie's office and request he correct this gross miscarriage of justice and pardon Brian Aitken.
 
See Also: Reason – Brian Aitken’s Mistake
Lew Rockwell - Channeling The Soviet Union 

Comments

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    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, you did leave out some important details, but let's face it - SEVEN YEARS??? That's just nuts. This is yet another good argument against the draconian police state.

    JMJ

    ReplyDelete
  3. This place is SOOOO screwed up! Go to jail for obeying the law ... go figure.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ah, Jersey, I love it when we can agree on something. I'm feeling all warm inside...

    ReplyDelete
  5. I wonder if the mother is having any second thoughts about her "concerns?"

    (If I were the son, I think I'd spend a few less holidays at the old homeplace.)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Secret Police, indeed.

    I'm right now googling the closest place where I can get a Concealed Carry Permit...not kidding...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Excellent piece and thanks for the book reference. Just ordered it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks Shane. The book focuses more on how the law has not kept up with technology, but it is still filled with outrageous stories such as this one. It also proves the point that the law has now made criminals of us all.

    ReplyDelete

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