Sunday, December 5, 2010

Brian Aitken - Poster Boy of the Oppressed

Brian Aitken is turning into the symbol of unfair oppression and rights violations by the state. He's a victim of the patchwork of gun laws throughout the country. Of course the ones who say that fault the too-strict laws in New Jersey not the practically-non-existent laws in Colorado.

The fact is he was found with guns in his car, albeit properly stored in the trunk, but still in violation of New Jersey law.  Part of the defense is that he just didn't know it was wrong, a truly incredible position.  The rest of it seems to depend on whether he was moving houses at the time.

"However, his roommate testified that they had been sharing the Hoboken apartment since June 2008, and that he had seen the guns at the apartment in September 2008," Bewley wrote. "[Aitken's] mother testified that he had been living in Hoboken and working in New York City since June 2008. This incident occurred in January 2009."
That's pretty damning testimony, I'd say. The gun crowd must be awfully desperate for a poster boy. I suppose they want someone to offset Colin Goddard.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

30 comments:

  1. The difference between poster boys is this:

    Brian Aitken is a convicted criminal that should not have been convicted and should be set free with a full pardon.

    Colin Goddard is a criminal that has not yet been convicted and should be.

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  2. So Mike, do you feel better now that this guy is in jail? Given that our jails are overcrowded, and we continually release proven violent criminals who go on to commit murder, are we safer with this dweeb taking up one of those spots?

    MikeB: “That's pretty damning testimony, I'd say.”

    “Damning”? We are still talking about a person with a clean history transporting a gun safely and responsibly. This should not be illegal anywhere in the country, let alone a seven year prison term offense. And you wonder why we “fight sensible measures”? If you stop trying to criminalize gun ownership, then maybe we can all work together to keep them in the right hands.

    MikeB: “Part of the defense is that he just didn't know it was wrong, a truly incredible position.”

    Before I started getting active for gun-rights, I would have never thought transporting a legally owned, locked, and unloaded gun in the trunk of a car would be illegal anywhere in this country (short of a specifically restricted site).

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  3. TS, Maybe the estranged wife and kid who lives with her were a big problem for Mr. Aitken. The moving houses explanation was total bullshit. If the guns were already in the Hoboken apartment according to the roommate, why were they back in the car? Maybe the judge had reason to believe he was going to kill his ex. Parking the car going to the trunk, opening two cases and loading a gun isn't all that complicated.

    The point is we don't know any of this, yet you guys are painting this guy like some kind of folk hero to the grandiose victim movement.

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  4. "The point is we don't know any of this, yet you guys are painting this guy like some kind of folk hero to the grandiose victim movement."

    And you and Jade add facts to news stories so that they will fit your theory.

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  5. MikeB: "The point is we don't know any of this..."

    Exactly! Yet he is in prison anyway.

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  6. He belongs in jail.

    I think the DA brought up a great point--he wasn't willing to testify in court when his own freedom was on the line, but he's happy to talk to the wingnuts.

    If you talk to lawyers they'll tell you this generally means they know they haven't a legal leg to stand on. In fact, any lawyer worth his or her salt will tell a client who does have a legitimate case to shut up and be quiet in the public eye.

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  7. Often times gun controllers get accused of only disrespecting the second amendment, but obviously Jade hates the fifth amendment as well. Are there any that you do like?

    I can rest easy knowing that I am on side of justice after reading posts like this. Yes, your cause is very much worth fighting against.

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  8. I know when I'm on my way to murder my estranged wife, I always leave the gun unloaded and locked in the bottom of a duffel bag in the bottom of my trunk. I know we can't read his mind, but we can certainly take an educated guess, Mike.

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  9. Reason #3646e10 why New Jersey is America's toilet.

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  10. TS, What I said "we don't know any of this" referred to my additional details of the story. What we do know is he broke the law. Ignorance is no excuse, it's just a lie. The moving story is also untrue. Why did he put the guns back in the trunk? Are you guys getting soft on criminals now, or is it just because it's a gun crime?

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  11. MikeB: “Ignorance is no excuse, it's just a lie. The moving story is also untrue. Why did he put the guns back in the trunk?”

    I could care less what his stories were. He wasn’t doing anything that deserved punishment.

    MikeB: “Are you guys getting soft on criminals now, or is it just because it's a gun crime?”

    No, it is that this guy should not be a criminal, because what he did should not be a crime. I don’t just want to see this guy out of jail, I want to see laws that criminalize the ownership of guns (as opposed to the use of guns in crime) repealed. My biggest beef is the prison sentence. Guys like this get out early so that Mr. Aitken can sit in jail:

    http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/state/parolee-david-goodell-charged-in-bergen-county-murder-of-girlfriend-vivian-tulli

    Who do you blame for this one, Mike? I blame gun controllers who want to lock up guys like Brian Aitken. How about that for turning the tables?

    From your point of view, what is wrong with having a law like this and simply making the penalty appropriate? They could confiscate his guns, make him appear in court, pay a fine, and have his guns returned with the proper paper work. What is wrong with that? You don’t like it because we didn’t take someone out of the gun ownership pool. You prefer laws that send a message that owning guns is hazardous to your freedom. That wsy people won’t bother with the risk.

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  12. Gunloons always tell us: punish those who break the law and leave those alone who are law-abiding.

    Well, whenever a gunloon breaks the law and gets punished--all we hear from the gunloonsphere is that the laws are wrong and there shouldn't be any penalty for breaking the law.

    Can't have it both ways.

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  13. Shorter TS: Criminals should be punished except if they're gunloons.

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  14. Mike, didn't you in a post just a couple of weeks ago say it was okay that Colin Goddard is a criminal because he is breaking the laws so that he can show how easy it is?

    Why would you give Goddard a pass for intentionally committing gun crimes while you want the book thrown at this guy who obviously never meant to break any laws?

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  15. Even shorter Jadegold: gunloons should be punished.

    One, I never said “gunloons” should not be punished if they commit actual violent crimes. Have you seen me defend murderers? I have never held up a liquor store at gun point, I have never assaulted someone, and I have never murdered someone. I have however, transported unloaded firearms in the trunk of a car. You can see how I would naturally draw a distinction that this should not be an offense that deserves incarceration. If you can’t see a difference, then there is nothing I can do for you. All I can do is continue to fight against your agenda, and honestly you are hurting the cause of gun control as more and more of us jump on board to fight the insanity.

    Two, I never said that tagline “enforce the rules we already have”, though if I did, it certainly wouldn’t mean I approve of all existing gun laws in every state and jurisdiction in the union. But since I am talking to the guy who says a gun ban is not a gun ban unless every single item on the planet that sends a projectile down a tube is banned- I doubt I will get through to you. You Jade, are more than welcome to pick and choose which laws you think are just and which ones you think are unjust for protesting. I can think of a certain immigration law in Arizona that I know you strongly disapprove of. Yes, you can have it both ways. This is America!

    Finally, neither you nor Mike has acknowledged the harm done by letting actual violent criminals go (like the one in the link I posted). Every day a guy like Aitkin sits in prison is another day a true criminal roams free (most likely- unless the prisons on the eastern seaboard are filled with people who failed to reregister their guns). Chances are they will commit violence again. You are contributing to the problem.

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  16. FWM: “Why would you give Goddard a pass for intentionally committing gun crimes while you want the book thrown at this guy who obviously never meant to break any laws?”

    Aitkin should have used the Colin Goddard Defense: “It’s OK, Officer. I work for the Brady Campaign, and I was just showing how easy it is to travel with an unloaded gun in the trunk of a car.”

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  17. You know, the Colin Goddard and the Bloomberg undercover activities must have been condoned by someone other than the Brady folks and the MAIG. Otherwise they'd have been charged with something especially since they went deep into enemy territority.

    You guys just hate the evidence they videotaped, evidence that the gun shows aren't on the up and up as you keep telling us.

    Aitken broke the law in a more active way than just having possession. He removed guns from his apartment in Hoboken and placed them in his car trunk and then drove the car around. He provided an insufficient explanation for having done it.

    In New Jersey you cannot do that, everyone knows it. The whole thing makes no sense. Perhaps the judge knows things that we don't which would account for the severity of the sentence.

    If nothing else were involved, I'd agree it's a terribly stiff sentence. I'd say probation and a lifetime disqualification would have done the trick, but that's if there was nothing else to it, which I doubt.

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  18. Aitken did something that most of us in free America can do now--hardly a real crime.

    Actually, the reason why the MAIG investigators or the "vendors" were not arrested was because they did not do anything llegal. The undercover investigators were not prohibited persons and were allowed to make the transactions. There was no "evidence", just made up bullshit.

    Goddard, on the other hand, intentionally made straw purchases and should be behind bars. I have no use for criminal gun trafficking scum like Goddard.

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  19. Any particular reason why my last post here did not go through? I have never had a problem with posts not being published by you.

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  20. TS: I see it in the Spam trap. I'm trying to dig it out.

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  21. Thanks Jade. I knew it couldn't be censorship.

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  22. Dig this, forcible citizen disarmament-loving, boot-licking, authority-worshiping herbivores!

    Brian Aitken, who was convicted of illegally possessing two handguns that he had legally purchased in Colorado, will be spending Christmas out of prison.

    Gov. Chris Christie commuted Aitken's sentence, from seven years to time served, according to an order the governor signed today.


    Now, all that's needed to make my joy complete is to see Bryan Miller wailing, "If every state locked people in cages for transporting unloaded guns in locked containers, deep in the trunks of their cars, my brother, the dead G-man would still be alive!"

    HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

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  23. Zorro said, "...deep in the trunks of their cars,..."

    Did you add that "deep" part?

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  24. Jadefool's Biggest (Only?) Cheerleader:


    Did you add that "deep" part?


    I didn't get it from the linked-to article here, but I'm pretty sure one of the articles said that the Jersey pigs who arrested him had to move the spare tire in his trunk, in order to find the guns.

    By the way, how do you reconcile the "Aitken was no longer in the process of moving" with the cops' admission that there were boxes of clothes and dishes in the car?

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  25. Zorro, Just like you got the "deep in the trunk" idea from one of the articles, I got my ideas from the news reports too. I read that he'd already completed his move to the place in Hoboken, which was a damning bit of information since part of his defense was that he was moving. The other part was pretty lame too, that he didn't know the NJ laws.

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  26. Guy KKKabot's Biggest (Only?) Cheerleader:

    Zorro, Just like you got the "deep in the trunk" idea from one of the articles, I got my ideas from the news reports too. I read that he'd already completed his move to the place in Hoboken, which was a damning bit of information since part of his defense was that he was moving.

    Ahem . . .

    Buried in the trunk, beneath piles of clothes and boxes of dishes, was a black duffle bag holding a boot box containing two handguns; "unloaded, disassembled, cleaned and wrapped in a cloth," his father said.

    Sounds pretty "deep in the trunk" to me, and the "piles of clothes and boxes of dishes" seem to argue against the assertion that the move had been completed long ago.

    Ya' happy now?

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  27. OK Zorro, only for you will I do this - going back to the original article to win a silly argument.

    "However, his roommate testified that they had been sharing the Hoboken apartment since June 2008, and that he had seen the guns at the apartment in September 2008," Bewley wrote. "[Aitken's] mother testified that he had been living in Hoboken and working in New York City since June 2008. This incident occurred in January 2009."

    Take that!

    Now let's flesh it out a bit, shall we?

    The guns had been in the apartment in Hoboken. They went back into the trunk when the ex-wife started to act up with the visitation rights, you know, just in case. Being well aware of the NJ laws, he left them unloaded and buried them under a bunch of junk which was still in the trunk from months earlier. Access was seconds away.

    Naturally he didn't want to testify with all that to hide.

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  28. @MikeB Aiken never attempted to use ignorance as a defense. The fact that he was presently moving from Mount Laurel to Hoboken was established numerous times by the Prosecutor, the Mount Laurel Police Officers, and atleast two other witnesses.
    I'm guessing you didn't read the transcripts.
    On November 30, 2009 John Brennan (prosecutor in the case) stated during a hearing to dismiss the case that "Clearly the evidence is here he's moving from Mount Laurel to Hoboken." That's paragraph 21 lines 13 & 14.
    Not enough for ya? How about this:
    "at the time of arrest he was travelling from one residence in New Jersey to another," Joel Bewley, a spokesman for the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office, told ABC News.
    Oh yeah, let's not forget Chris Christie and his army of lawyers reviewed the case and Ordered Aikens release. Christie, by the way, is a former Federal Prosecutor.
    Where'd you say you got your "facts" from again?

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  29. Anonymous, Thanks for your input, but you didn't explain this.

    "However, his roommate testified that they had been sharing the Hoboken apartment since June 2008, and that he had seen the guns at the apartment in September 2008," Bewley wrote. "[Aitken's] mother testified that he had been living in Hoboken and working in New York City since June 2008. This incident occurred in January 2009."

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