George Rebane
Mark Meckler's gun charge at La Guardia airport was disposed of as a "disorderly conduct" today. He had to pay a small fine and his gun was confiscated. The story made national headlines a few weeks ago when NYC applied its widely-acknowledged insane CCW law on a citizen exercising his 2nd Amendment rights (reported here). To show the perverse state of our local and national justice system, Mark was initially charged with 'felony possession with intent to do harm' as he tried to check his firearm that was inside a TSA approved locked box. This case is so ridiculous that reportedly the district attorney asked Mark not to speak to the media about it. On the other hand, I hope that this matter will be brought up again in a wider scope as the dust settles and Mark puts his life back together. Neil Cavuto on Fox News will interview Mark today during his 1pm program.
[update 1100am] Just received this forwarded email statement by Mark Meckler.
On December 15, 2011 at approximately 5:15 a.m., I was at LaGuardia International airport preparing to check in for a flight out of the city. During a routine check-in, I requested a firearms declaration form from the ticket agent. It was my intent to declare and check my unloaded firearm.
I purchased this firearm legally, and I have a valid concealed carry permit for it issued in California. The unloaded gun was locked inside a TSA-approved travel case, and the case was locked inside my checked luggage. I carry the firearm for my personal safety, having received numerous threats due to my role in the Tea Party Patriots. I have checked this firearm at airports dozens of times before, all across the country.
The ticketing agent provided me with the declaration form, and I signed it and returned it to her. She advised me that she would need to call Port Authority police to inspect. This is not unusual when traveling with a firearm. Procedures vary from airport to airport, from airline to airline, and even from day to day, and as a law-abiding citizen, I have always been happy to cooperate.
Unfortunately, that day, I didn’t realize that I was about to cross paths with New York City’s anti-Second Amendment stance. Upon showing my case and the weapon to the officer who arrived on the scene, and after a few brief questions, she advised me that she was placing me under arrest for violating New York City’s firearms laws.
To say that I was stunned would be an understatement. I am from a law enforcement family. My mother is a retired correctional officer, and I have spent my life around folks from the law enforcement community. I have always considered myself a law-abiding citizen. I have never been arrested before. I have never been in police custody. I can never say those things again. On December 15th, 2011, I was arrested, handcuffed at the ticket counter, and taken to a waiting squad car for transport to the Port Authority Police station at LaGuardia.
I was subsequently transferred, in handcuffs, to the Queens Central booking facility in New York City. I was charged with felony possession of a firearm with intent to do harm. I spent the day in Queens…in jail.
It was a nightmare that I can scarcely describe to you. Until you have felt the handcuffs on your wrists, and until you have heard that cell door close behind you, it is impossible to understand what it means to actually lose your liberty. And since that day, my liberty has been at stake, and because of that threat, based upon the advice of counsel, I’ve been unable to publicly speak about this case. Today the silence ends.
I am pleased to announce that the criminal case against me has been dropped. Although I was originally charged with a violent felony, the case against me was resolved with a plea to “disorderly conduct. ” Disorderly Conduct is not a felony or a misdemeanor, or even a crime. The facts underlying my plea are that I declared a legally purchased, properly licensed and unloaded firearm at an airport counter. Apparently, much to my surprise, in New York City, it is considered “disorderly conduct” to exercise your constitutionally guaranteed, Second Amendment rights.
Strangely, now that the case against me is over, the authorities refuse to return my firearm. There is no law that allows them to confiscate a weapon in this manner. They simply say "no" when you ask for your weapon back. This is apparently their "policy." This is apparently done regularly in New York. This is government robbery. Not only is New York City anti-Second Amendment rights, but they are depriving citizens of their legally owned property. My lawyer has advised me that I can attempt to pursue the return of my firearm, but that to do so would cost me more than the firearm is worth. I am not alone in facing this tyranny. It has happened to hundreds of people in the New York metro area. My lawyer, Brian Stapleton, has handled over 400 of these cases himself, so he is an expert on the subject.
While the end of this case is the end of a horrible nightmare for my family and I, it is not the end of this fight. It is just the beginning. Since the original incident, I have received more emails, phone calls, texts and tweets of support than you can possibly imagine. To those people, I want to say heart-felt thanks on behalf of my entire family. We have come to know that we are not alone in this particular fight. Apparently, this happens to hundreds of people per year in New York City. And New York City is not alone in its attack on our rights. This sort of Constitutional abuse, Second Amendment and otherwise, is taking place all over the nation. And we as citizens must stand against it. We must protect our rights, or we will lose them.
Many of you know me as someone who is willing to stand and fight for self-governance in this country. I’m no politician, and I’m not from a powerful or connected family. I’m an average American citizen. And I stand shoulder to shoulder with millions of other Americans who, despite enormous obstacles, and despite the politicians and ruling elite who oppose us, intend to return this country to the bounds of the United States Constitution.
The politicians and ruling elite will try, but we must not let them label us Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal. We cannot let them make us fight against each other. Too much is at stake. We the People are losing our sovereignty to the government. We the People, must stand and fight for our inalienable rights.
I’m not alone in this fight. There are so many laws, that no one can possibly know or understand them. We are all affected. From the inner city to the farm, from the heartland of America to the coasts, people are under pressure from a government that no longer serves them. From my home in California, to the farmland of Kansas… from the small towns of South Carolina to the metropolis of New York, every year the legislatures pass thousands of laws and regulations that do not serve the people.
The legislators don’t read the bills they pass, and even if they did, they couldn’t understand them. Our criminal justice system is terribly broken, and no longer serves the people and the communities it was intended to serve. Our regulatory system is broken; small businesses and the communities that rely on them crushed under the weight of unnecessary regulation.
We are, step by step, destroying the heart of America. And we are doing so because we are not governing ourselves according to the Constitution. It’s up to us…the People.
It’s time to stand for self-governance. It is time to stand for the plain meaning of the Constitution. Every word of the Constitution is important, and we must fight for them all. We must fight for every inch of this country, from the inner city to the smallest rural town. We are, all of us, first and foremost, American citizens. We’ve always governed ourselves…and we always intend to. And we’ve always been willing to stand when freedom is at stake. It is time to stand…time for all of us, every race, every religion, every gender, every American to stand up and fight for liberty and take responsibility for governing ourselves.
No one should ever have to go through what my family has been through, simply for exercising a fundamental right, specifically enumerated in the United States Constitution. I am committed to making sure no one does. And I’m willing to work with anyone…anyone, who agrees that it’s time for the people to govern themselves once again.
Will we as citizens fight for our inalienable right to govern ourselves, or will we quietly allow ourselves to be “governed” into submission by a ruling elite, disconnected from our citizens and our communities? Only history will tell, but I intend to fight.
Mark Meckler
[13jan2012] Tea Party Patriots national co-founder Mark Meckler has started blogging. RR has added to 'Our Links' the link to his blog.
Charged with a misdemeanor,fined, and they also confiscate his firearm.....I guess that's better than prison time.
What tangled laws we weave.....
Posted by: Gunrightsattorneys.wordpress.com | 12 January 2012 at 10:12 AM
Who winds up with Meckler's gun? NYPD should auction it off on eBay, and give the proceeds to their widows and orphans fund.. Great symbolism there.
Posted by: Douglas Keachie | 12 January 2012 at 10:44 AM
Is everyone having to put in a random six letter code with nearly every post? I used to have to memorize full Microsoft codes for installations, six times longer. One block of six is a piece of cake.
Posted by: Douglas Keachie | 12 January 2012 at 10:46 AM
problem analyzed. Conclusion... this blog is again being vandalized by Keachie.
Posted by: Gregory | 12 January 2012 at 02:04 PM
DougK - Administrivia: I deleted your and my comments relating to your posting travails now that you have the "problem analyzed". Thanks for your patience.
Posted by: George Rebane | 12 January 2012 at 02:14 PM
Greg, had a taste of the censorship over at The Union's Towntalk yet? Here's a place you can express yourself freely.
Sufficiently unhappy am I with The Union, that I’ve created a FB group to attempt to provide an area where one can comment on Towntalk and other items in the print edition, without wondering if it is worth the bother, if The Union staff is just going to censor it anyway, regardless of content, just because you wrote it. Open to all to join,
http://www.facebook.com/groups/337919946238201/
Posted by: Douglas Keachie | 12 January 2012 at 10:09 PM
Greg, I did NOT take that handle. Referencing Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues."
Posted by: Douglas Keachie | 12 January 2012 at 10:11 PM
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/sy-187835137/bob_dylan_subterranean_homesick_blues_official_music_video/
Enlightenment comes at the last line.
Posted by: Douglas Keachie | 12 January 2012 at 10:17 PM
I salute the discretion TheUnion is said to be exercising over the likes of Keachie who was very probably the #1 vandal when they were allowing comments. No responsible adult needs a score or more sock puppets to have a voice.
Posted by: Gregory | 13 January 2012 at 12:38 PM
It strikes me that if Meckler's atty knows of 400+ people who have firearms confiscated, a class action might be financially feasible and have a reasonable chance of success given the Roberts' court.
Posted by: Gregory | 13 January 2012 at 12:47 PM
Why should he want to do that? It looks like this is make work for Attorneys. It's amazing how the legal profession and the lawmakers work together to "invent diseases" that only lawyers have the cure for. It would be interesting to know how much in legal charges this cost MM. That's the real fine for sure. Harvesting as George R likes to put it.
Posted by: Paul Emery | 13 January 2012 at 12:52 PM
Sorry to disappoint you Greg, still posting at The Union, even today, you really didn't think their Keach detectors were that good, did you? And, so that all (even you, Greg) can really express how they feel, set up Facebook group, "The Union Uncensored," where everybody can say what they want without going through the censors at The Union. Haven't got time to do that sort of thing full time, but will be dropping tibits there every now and then.
Here, BTW, is a sample of The Union commentator closest to the editors and probably Greg's hearts:
Comment From Woodsy
YAY! No more big bad businesses allowed in CA. Let no crisis or accident go to waste! We can all live off government SS payments and inheritances from our Parents! Eat Vegan meals, drink wine and complain about anybody trying to make a living!! Welcome to the Divided Socialist States of America...crafted out of the ashtray full of burnt doobies of the 60's generation! Yay!! "
Posted by: Douglas Keachie | 13 January 2012 at 01:07 PM
Paul, Mark is probably not paying a cent out of his own pocket. That's what Tea Party supporter provide cash for, and oafter all, he feels "threatened" because he is their leader.
I just find it amazing that carrying a gun will make one feel safer from “threats.” If someone has it in for you in particular, they are going to stalk you very carefully, and shoot you from behind, or with a magnetic land mine attached to the door of your vehicle, etc.
Even with the common stranger mugger attack, you being armed is unlikely to prevent them from getting the drop on you. The best protection is to travel with lots of people around you, or at least one trained body guard, and possibly a good dog or two.
Posted by: Douglas Keachie | 13 January 2012 at 01:10 PM