Have a gun license? Plan to bring your gun to my hometown? Don't.
Mean New York authorities will make your life miserable.
Patricia Jordan and her daughter flew here from her home state of Georgia. She wanted her gun nearby for protection.
Jordan obeyed all the Transportation Security Administration's rules: She put her gun in a locked TSA-approved case with its bullets separate. She informed the airline that she had a gun. The airline had no problem with that.
In New York City, she kept the gun locked in her hotel room. She never needed it, but her daughter told me, "I was glad she brought it just in case something did happen."
When leaving the city, Jordan followed the TSA's rules again. At the airline counter, she again told the agent she wanted to check her gun. But this time, she was told: "Wait."
"Next thing I know, they're getting ready to arrest me," she said.
Her daughter was crying, "Please don't arrest my mom!" But New York City cops arrested her, jailed her and told her she was guilty of a felony that mandates a minimum 3 1/2 years in jail.
Jordan's ordeal is not unique. Roughly once a week, New York City locks up people for carrying guns legally licensed by other states.
Another Georgia visitor, Avi Wolf, was jailed although he didn't even have a gun. He just had part of a gun—an empty magazine—a little plastic box with a small metal spring. He brought it to the city because it wasn't working well and he thought a New York friend might repair it. He couldn't believe he was being arrested.
"Somebody could've done more damage to an individual with a fork from McDonald's," Wolf told me.
Wolf, too, checked with the TSA beforehand. They said, just declare it to TSA agents. So he did.
"I'm telling them... I have a magazine here. It's empty, no bullets... Next thing I know they're pulling me over to the side, they're like, 'Do you know what you have in your bag?!' 'I know what I have in my bag, I told you what I have in my bag.'"
Following TSA instructions didn't do Wolf any good. "Fast forward about an hour and it was four Port Authority police there. The chief of LaGuardia airport is there, [as if] they thought they found somebody trying to do 9/11 repeat," he says.
"They asked me if I had a gun license. Of course I had a license. I'm from Georgia, and everybody there's got a gun license. And they're like, well, sir, you're going to be getting arrested now."
Wolf and Jordan spent less than a day in jail, but each had to pay lawyers $15,000 to bargain the felony charge down to "public disorder."
"We are not going to apologize for enforcing our gun laws," said Assistant District Attorney Jack Ryan when I confronted him about these pointless and cruel arrests. He said New York City enforces laws as "humanely and as compassionately as we can."
But the system is neither fair nor humane.
Patricia Jordan kept her bullets separate from her gun, as TSA regulations require.
"The officer could not even find my bullets in my suitcase. I had to show him where they were," she told me.
That didn't matter, said the DA, because the gun and bullets were in the same suitcase.
"Under New York law, if they're together, they're loaded," says Ryan.
"They're loaded even if they're not loaded?!" I asked. Yes, he said.
I called him a sadistic bully (the full video is at JohnStossel.com).
He replied that New York City must make sure people are "not threats."
New York claims this keeps us safe. But people like Jordan and Wolf actually make us safer. Texas data shows licensed gun owners are seven times less likely to murder someone than a nonlicensed person. They also prevent some crimes. Nationwide, crime has dropped as the percentage of people with concealed handgun permits has risen.
Licensed gun owners aren't the problem. Crazy laws and callous prosecutions are.
She was very careful to follow all the laws and rules except one -- you cannot have a gun in NYC without a NYC license. How can she be so knowledgeable about the law yet so ignorant about NYC laws?
I'll tell you how. She knew it was against the law and thought she would get away with it. She got caught. She rolled the dice and lost.
Now people like John Stossel come forward and cry and moan about her plight. Fuck her. She broke the law.
She was very careful to follow all the laws and rules except one -- you cannot have a gun in NYC without a NYC license.
Well, it sounds like the law she was arrested for was having the bullets and the gun in the same suitcase which in NYC means it is a loaded gun.
She either didn't know the law or she ignored it. Sounds like she volunteered to help them find the bullets in the suitcase or they wouldn't have arrested her.
Anyway, look back at the article. That was what I read in it.
Or you two could just call each other names for the next 5 posts which might be more entertaining for both of you anyway.
Sounds like she volunteered to help them find the bullets in the suitcase or they wouldn't have arrested her.
The article is not clear. Yes, the bullets and the gun were in the same suitcase, but the TSA agent called the NYC cops over when she announced she was transporting a gun without mentioning the bullets.
So maybe she would have been charged with carrying an unloaded gun -- which turned into carrying a loaded gun when she pointed out the bullets.
Either way, she should have known better, given all the research she did. Now I'm thinking they could have arrested her when she landed in New York. I wonder why they didn't.
Yes, the bullets and the gun were in the same suitcase, but the TSA agent called the NYC cops over....
According to NY State law, when ammunition is in close proximity to a gun, the weapon is considered a loaded gun, by definition.
The problems generally occur, as here, when departing NYC (JFK or LaGuardia). The authorities called over would not technically be the NYC cops, but the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANY&NJ) cops. PANY&NJ is a seperate entity established by interstate compact, authorized by the Federal congress. It is jointly controlled by the two states.
NYC adds restrictions on top of those imposed by the state. NY State gun licenses are generally not valid in NYC.
Unlawful possession in NYC generally carries a mandatory minimum 3½ years if one loses at trial. Plea bargaining to a misdemeanor is incentivized.
TSA explicitly advises travelers "be sure to comply with the laws concerning possession of firearms as they vary by local, state and international government."
NY Laws › Penal Law › Part 3 › Title P › Article 265
15. "Loaded firearm" means any firearm loaded with ammunition or any firearm which is possessed by one who, at the same time, possesses a quantity of ammunition which may be used to discharge such firearm.
In New York State, if the ammunition is in close proximity to the gun, the gun is considered loaded.
NEW YORK—Use extreme caution when traveling through New York with firearms. New York state’s general approach is to make the possession of handguns and so-called “assault weapons” and “large capacity ammunition feeding devices” illegal and then provide exceptions that the accused may raise as “affirmative defenses” to prosecution in some cases. NY Penal Code s. 265.20(12), (13) & (16).
A number of localities, including Albany, Buffalo, New York City, Rochester, Suffolk County, and Yonkers, impose their own requirements on the possession, registration, and transport of firearms. Possession of a handgun within New York City requires a New York City handgun license or a special permit from the city police commissioner validating a state license within the city. Even New York state licenses are generally not valid within New York City unless a specific exemption applies, such as when the New York City police commissioner has issued a special permit to the licensee or “the firearms covered by such license are being transported by the licensee in a locked container and the trip through the city of New York is continuous and uninterrupted.” Possession of a shotgun or rifle within New York City requires a permit, which is available to non-residents, and a certificate of registration.
Carry On Bags: No Checked Bags: Yes (Special Instructions)
Firearms carried in checked bags must be unloaded, packed in a locked hard-sided container, and declared to the airline at check-in. Check with your airline to see if they allow firearms in checked bags. Read the guidelines for traveling with firearms.
When traveling, be sure to comply with the laws concerning possession of firearms as they vary by local, state and international government.
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Ammunition
Carry On Bags: No Checked Bags: Yes (Special Instructions)
Check with your airline if ammunition is allowed in checked bags. Small arms ammunitions must be securely packed in fiber, wood or metal boxes or other packaging specifically designed to carry small amounts of ammunition. Ask the airline about limitations or fees. Read the guidelines for traveling with firearms.
When traveling, be sure to comply with the laws concerning possession of firearms as they vary by local, state and international government.
