He did not have a gun with him, and it was a good thing. One of the automated license plate readers in Maryland grabbed his Florida plate, matched it up with Florida's concealed weapon permit files, and then the excitement started:
Finally the patrol car's emergency lights come on, and it's almost a relief. Whatever was going on, they'd be able to get it over with now. The officer — from the Transportation Authority Police, as it turns out, Maryland's version of the New York-New Jersey Port Authority — strolls up, does the license and registration bit, and returns to his car.And yes, the police state of Maryland thoroughly searched the car, separated John and his wife for 90 minutes of interrogation -- and then wrote them a speeding ticket. (They say that they weren't speeding, because they were being following by a police car, and knew it.) Maryland, being a liberal controlled state, is fascist. I can't imagine ever driving through it. And I sure would not do it with a gun on me. I do not think I would even do so if the gun were possessed in accordance with the Firearms Owners Protection Act. It sounds like Maryland police might just load the gun so that they would have a reason to arrest you and confiscate the gun.
According to Kally and John (but not MTAP, which, pending investigation, could not comment), what happened next went like this:
Ten minutes later he's back, and he wants John out of the Expedition. Retreating to the space between the SUV and the unmarked car, the officer orders John to hook his thumbs behind his back and spread his feet. “You own a gun,” the officer says. “Where is it?”
“At home in my safe,” John answers.
“Don't move,” says the officer.
Now he's at the passenger's window. “Your husband owns a gun,” he says. “Where is it?”
First Kally says, “I don't know.” Retelling it later she says, “And that's all I should have said.” Instead, attempting to be helpful, she added, “Maybe in the glove [box]. Maybe in the console. I'm scared of it. I don't want to have anything to do with it. I might shoot right through my foot.”
The officer came back to John. “You're a liar. You're lying to me. Your family says you have it. Where is the gun? Tell me where it is and we can resolve this right now.”
It sure will be nice when Maryland joins the United States, and the Bill of Rights starts to mean something to them besides gay marriage.
It was Maryland, not New Jersey.
ReplyDeleteFixed it almost as soon as posted it.
ReplyDeleteThis is a pretty good argument for not having to register for concealed carry. As instapundit would say "Tar feathers"
ReplyDeleteSpent a night in jail and spent $1,200- in the 1990's detained and charged in Maryland despite the FOPA. Unloaded handgun in my lugage. Thankfully judge was the type to have the charges dropped. i didn't have money to sue, NRA never answered my letters (pre-email days).
ReplyDeleteLesson learned to me never-NEVER-trust the police.
A reader in occupied New England
Massachusetts is nearly as bad. Back in the 90s we had an incredibly hard time organizing biathlon meets in Vermont simply because too many folks were getting hassled and losing their guns to the Massachusetts State Police. We eventually gave up on getting anybody other than folks from New Hampshire and Maine to show up.
ReplyDeleteSo yeah, New England isn't the place to be if you feel like exercising your First or Second Amendment rights.
Sounds like the wife needed to be trained on what to say and not say should they be stopped! An additional consideration in such matters--i.e. spouse training.
ReplyDeleteGiven the reality of harassment in some states if you are driving a car from certain states also probably a good idea to instead rent a car in the state with plates that will not attract cops to harass.
Of course it sucks and one shouldn't have to do that in the USA but doesn't seem likely those bastards and their evil laws will be replaced without a civil war!
Will we ever see a day where concealed carry registration will aid confiscation or at least provide a starting list for who to harass when BO is officially declared by law to be the reincarnation of Jesus, ML King and Karl Marx.
ReplyDeleteMy Dad use to think the NRA membership list would be used someday to start the confiscating.
I sure do hope the NRA and allied organizations have data security to protect that list from theft or seizure by the government but I'm not counting on that and highly doubt it.
I would rather starve to death than move to any of those anti bill of rights states!
I confess that I have never driven a car in the fascist zone that wasn't a rental car. I shudder to think what would happened if I drove the Jaguar (with its NRA window sticker) into one of those states. With the number of different state carry permits that I have, they might just call in an air strike, and hang the collateral damage to their own serfs.
ReplyDeleteEven prior to this incident I have thought that in the event of a significant public emergency like Hurricane Katrina, my state (Texas) should refuse to allow any police from a fascist state such as New York, New Jersey, California, or Illinois (and now Maryland) to be deployed to "help" us. It is enough of a problem to sort things out between the local citizens and the local cops, never mind a police force as warped as Maryland's.
ReplyDeleteWasn't Maryland where the police trumped up the bogus felonies on the motorcycle rider who videoed his traffic stop and put it on Youtube?