Marine Corps gunner Ryan Jerome was just trying to make sure his firearm was properly stowed and all safety protocols followed when he visited the Empire State Building and asked where he should check his gun.
Jerome, who has a concealed carry permit in Indiana, was arrested and faces up to 15 years in prison for his ‘crime’ of responsibility. Even if he is indicted by a grand jury, the bare minimum prison sentence is two years. “They couldn’t even offer less if they wanted to,” said Jerome’s attorney Mark Bederow.
Before traveling to New York to sell around $15,000 in jewelry, Jerome looked online to find gun information, but the only sources he could find ended up being inaccurate. So he brought along his gun. It’s possible he might not have bothered coming at all if he’d known he couldn’t bring a weapon, because $15,000 is a lot to travel with without any protection.
Side note: See how anti-gun laws can hurt the economy? Just saying ...
Now the poor guy with no criminal record whatsoever is going to do jail time for doing what he thought was the right thing: Turning in his weapon when he saw a sign that said, “No Guns.”
This isn’t an isolated case, either. Last December, Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler was arrested at a New York airport for trying to check a pistol. He had a California concealed carry permit for the weapon.
Meredith Graves, a nurse from Tennessee, was arrested recently at the World Trade Center site for trying to check her weapon. She faces charges similar to Jerome’s.
These are decent, law-abiding citizens who do not deserve this insane persecution. New York citizens should know better, but visitors that lack information regarding the rules should, at the very most, simply have their weapons confiscated.
As much as I personally disagree with strict gun control laws, I recognize New York’s right to pass and enforce laws they deem beneficial to the citizens. But to unfairly convict people that are doing their gosh-darnedest to be responsible gun-owners is ludicrous.
Image via robertnelson/Flickr
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Comments 38
Since when is ignorance of the law an excuse? These people should have had enough common sense to verify the laws of the places to which they were traveling. My husband has a concealed carry permit in VA, but knows he cannot carry his gun into DC.I can't believe that it is THAT hard to find out the concealed carry laws in NYC.
And how stupid people violating local laws has anything to do with the economy is baffling.
I'm usually with you, Jenny, but not this time. I don't know how hard it is to find carry law info online, but I would bet it would be easy to find the business phone number of a police precinct in any state. One phone call would be all it takes to know what you need to know. Ignorance of the law isn't a defense. That said, I think the minimum mandatory sentence for this offense in NY is pretty crazy, considering how many tourists they see a year.
And - love your side note about how restrictions on personal freedoms impact the economy - very smart!
Ok, so the guy didn't do a good job checking into the laws where he was planning to travel. But still, there is NO common sense in our judicial system (well, very little common sense). A guy who wasn't thorough in investigating the laws of the state, sees a sign (which why would it need to be there if the laws of the state don't allow guns??) and attempts to do the right thing. BAD - now you are going to jail. It is ridiculous. Those who try to 'sneak' in and are caught with a gun should be the ones facing jail time. Not the one who was trying to do the right thing.
I know from personal experience that once in a while, the simplest way to find the answer you need is the one thing that is completely overlooked. And when it is something extremely urgent, well, that can mess with your mind, making you overlook things as well. No excuse, but just saying that it happens. We are not all of us 100% cool calm and collected, and straight-thinking 100% of the time. Most of us try to do the right thing, and when we fail, there is always someone to point out how absolutely ineffective we are.
Tourists being treated as if they are residents is a bit absurd, and the penalties with this are WAY out of line! Yes, the info is there, and there should be a penalty for breaking the law. However, NY is just way out of line in this area! My guess is they have found a way to greatly fund their coffers beyond the enormous taxes they have imposed on its citizens.
States rights rule on guns. NY being a different state than the other two obviously has different laws on guns. These two people should have checked the LAWS in the states they were traveling too.
You can't even travel through NY State with a gun in your car... not legally at least. As we are military, we have to move all over, and while moving to CT, we called to NY and they said that as long as we didn't give a reason to be pulled over, we could travel through with our weapons, provided they and our ammo were secured properly. there is a booklet that is released every so often that has the gun laws in it for every state. I think mu hubby got it where we bought our weapons. As far as I know, the people who sell the guns should have the most recent copy of this book. One thing we did note though; NY has the some of the most stringent gun laws in the country.