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ShaneenAllen

By Brandon via concealednation.org

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has pardoned Shaneen Allen, a mother of two who has been in a legal fight since being arrested in October of 2013. Allen was traveling through New Jersey with her firearm, one for which she had a concealed carry permit in neighboring Pennsylvania. During her travels, she was pulled over and subsequently arrested on felony gun charges, since New Jersey has extremely strict gun control laws and does not recognize the PA permit that Allen possessed . . .

Christie watched the case develop, but frequently stated that he would not act until the verdict from the justice system in the State of New Jersey was in.

“I have real concerns about it, but I have to give the criminal justice system an opportunity to deal with this,” he said last September.

“If we get to the end of the criminal justice adjudication, and I believe that justice was not served in a manner in which my authority under the constitution allows me to fix, then I’ll certainly consider that,” he added.

Allen faced a mandatory three-year prison sentence for driving over a bridge into a neighboring state, and for being honest with the police officer. With a huge outcry and rally from many people since the arrest (plus the fact that the laws are absurd), Christie made the right decision with this one.

See Christie’s pardon letter below:

Chris-Christie-Pardons-Shaneen-Allen-670x1024

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102 COMMENTS

      • Read the last sentence in the letter.

        Paraphrasing, NJ may revoke that pardon at any time by Christie without notice.

        A present with strings attached.

        Charming, don’t you think?

        • Again… given the alternative available, I’d take it.

          It would be nice if the Supreme Court would march in and declare NJ’s de facto “no-issue” as unconstitutional, but I wouldn’t want to sit in a state prison waiting for that cavalry.

        • Well, I’m not sure, as I’ve never heard of it happening, but revoking a pardon might be unconstitutional.

        • It seems that the Governor who issued the pardon has the power to revoke it, but once out of office, neither he nor a successor could do so.
          If Presidential pardons could be revoked by successors, we would have pure chaos after every inauguration.

    • Perhaps, but he did the right thing here. I’m not going to continue to criticize someone (on a particular issue) after they have already made things right.

    • Not justice in New Jersey. Try lawless in New Jersey.

      Justice would be repeal of their draconian, unconstitutional firearm laws.

      All he’s done here is save one woman, whose case is not one bit special or particular, but rather is a regular and routine violation of NJ law. This wasn’t some crazy, unimaginable, perverse application of the law. This was black letter law applied exactly as written. Brutal, harsh, heartless and unconstitutional as it is.

      He’s only doing this because it got a lot of attention, because she’s a sympathetic offender, and because he’s running for the GOP nomination. If he really gave a crap, he’d have pushed for repeal years ago before this case.

      All this is, is a selective, politically motivated exception to the law. That’s essentially no law, but rather arbitrary fiat. Funny, when NJ carry licenses are distributed by political connections, we rightfully call it slimy and crooked. Yet, when pardons are handed out for political purposes, we call that justice? The principle is identical and isn’t suddenly acceptable because the recipient is likeable.

      No. Let her rot in prison. Let her case go to the Supreme Court! Let everyone avoid the civil rights abusing hellscape that is New Jersey as they would North Korea. Let them see what REAL human rights abuses look like, unlike the phony controversy the media has fabricated in Indiana!

  1. “Allen faced a mandatory three-year prison sentence for driving over a bridge into a neighboring state, and for being honest with the police officer. ”

    Ain’t that the sad truth.

    Good ending to what in sure was an awful roller coaster ride.

  2. This should’ve been a no brainer, I’m sure Christie did it for political reasons but good on him anyway.

    • He sure did the right thing, but I suspect only because he wants to be president and wants to appease his potential voters. If you look up the definition of a career opportunist politician, you’ll find a picture of Christie. Therefore I’m not so sure if he would have pardoned her under any other circumstances. Yes, I’m that cynical.

        • Well, I dunno about a governor, but POTUS sure can. When he gives you a pardon, it covers everything you might ever have done, think Gerald Ford’s pardon of Nixon, pissed off people so bad, because they wanted to know WTF had happened, and you could no longer subpoena anything, investigate anything, it was just over, without anything like closure.

          If Christie could do that, he should have. I have not heard how much MONEY this escapade has cost that poor woman, though it is nice that she won’t be going to prison. I bet NJ is not going to reimburse her for their own idiocy.

        • Well, it won’t let me edit, so let me add, instead, I decided after that posting, I need to look for a site where I can donate toward her legal expenses.

        • Never mind, the fund is apparently closed after getting around 3X what they were seeking.

  3. Ok, Chris I will give you points for that, but I am still not voting for you as you aren’t even close to making up for all the rest of your stupidity.

  4. So I expect that all other people arrested for the same crimes (and no other violence) will be pardoned accordingly?

    Yeah, didn’t think so…

    • Those laws are to frighten the honest citizens like Shaneen Allen. They have no meaning to those with criminal intent.
      When they are applied so unjustly to someone who is clearly only disqualified geographically as a rightful gun-carrying citizen, the injustice of the law is made clear to the public.

      • Which is exactly why this was swept under the rug.

        Shaneen’s situation was a danger to the continuation of these laws. Best to pardon her and get her out of the spotlight (so NJ can quietly continue to harass other gun owners) than have this go to trial and backfire in NJ’s face.

        I’m absolutely happy for Shaneen, but this was 100% political and had nothing to do with empathy or justice.

        • Exactly.
          We have to put a spotlight on the outrages of the bullies behind gun laws that have the sole effect of harassing the innocent gun owner.
          The technique is described by Jack, the tyrannical leader of the choir boys in “Lord of the Flies”:

          “We’ll have rules!” he cried excitedly. “LOTS OF RULES! Then when anyone
          breaks ’em–”
          “Whee–oh!”
          “Wacco!”
          “Bong!”
          “Doink!” (EMPHASIS ADDED)The technique is described by Jack, the tyrannical leader of the choir boys in “Lord of the Flies”:

          “We’ll have rules!” he cried excitedly. “LOTS OF RULES! Then when anyone
          breaks ’em–”
          “Whee–oh!”
          “Wacco!”
          “Bong!”
          “Doink!” (EMPHASIS ADDED)

  5. Better than nothing, but damage has been done to her in the form of wasting her time and money. Time and money that should’ve gone to helping her raise her children. Once again, gun laws are not about public safety or the public good.

    • I wonder if a Democrat gearing up for a possible POTUS run would do such a thing. I can’t see Hillary caring much.

      But if it’s between Hillary and Christie, I’ll consider illegally immigrating to Mexico.

  6. Pardoned for the crime of exercising a constitutionally protected right? Sounds about right. Good thing she didn’t try to speak freely or something.

    • How on earth would that serve justice? He broke an unjust and unconstitutional law. Yes he is a moron, but I don’t want morons locked up for breaking laws that broke our constitution.

      • In order to demonstrate the absurdity of the whole thing, dummy.

        If you hold them to the same standard as the rest of us, they’re fucked.

        Get it? If there is no out and DG is in jail on a mandatory, its a good thing!

      • “Yes he is a moron, but I don’t want morons locked up for breaking laws that broke our constitution.”

        I think I’ll take Islam’s approach on that.

        Progressives should be locked up for breaking a bullshit gun law, if it is in the interest of conservatism.

        I knew there had to be at least one thing I could be on the same page with on Islam.

      • Gregory was acting in his position as a reputable news reporter spreading disingenuous anti-gun rhetoric and breaking an anti-gun law in so doing.

        “As ye sow, so shall ye reap” comes to mind.

  7. I do understand that Gov. Christie cannot be seen to be interfering in judicial process. We have separate branches of government for a reason.

    • The legislative branch “writes” the bad laws. The executive branch, which Christie is the head of, upholds the bad laws, and the judicial branch judges whether or not the bad laws are broken. A better choice would have been if Christie ordered the prosecution to inform the jury about jury nullification and let the jury decide if a true law was broken or just a mandate of a bunch of tyrants. With the jury nullifying the law, it would be stricken from the books and unable to be prosecuted against anyone again.

      • Jury nullification doesn’t overturn the law and strike it off the books, it merely lets the current defendant be free.

        If practiced repeatedly, however, most prosecutors will eventually learn it’s a waste of time to prosecute people for violating that particular law.

        • Doesn’t it also set precedent? And isn’t that sort of a little bit overturning the law?

  8. It is great that Christie did the right thing. In CT however, Governor Malloy would probably NOT have pardoned Shaneen but likely signed a law to further punish people like her. He has reputedly referred to himself as the “Anti-Christie”, which makes sense if you think Christie is a good guy.

    Pardoning Shaneen Allen definitely puts him in the “good guy” category as far as I am concerned.

  9. This is a big win. I’m no Christie fan, but I have to admit that he granted clemency to Brian Aitkin (all of Aitkin’s convictions were later overturned on appeal or dismissed), and now he’s pardoned Shaneen Allen.

    I don’t care about Christie’s motives or political motivation. I care that Brian Aitkin and Shaneen Allen now have their lives back. So kudos to Chris Christie.

  10. Glad this was taken off her record, but after what that poor woman had to go through, just for exercising her constitutional right was absolutely ridiculous! Being incarcerated, losing her job, and having her good name dragged through the mud by whacko liberals shows just how screwed up the laws are in New Jersey and how badly they need to be changed! Like California, New York, and Connecticut, Jersey is one state I will NEVER visit or want anything to do with.

    • The two states I have family living in, NJ and SC are only a few of the states that my Pa carry permit is not valid in. I can just about drive through any state between here and SC legally carrying, but as soon as I hit SC I become a felon. So much for the 2nd Amendment.

      • Correct. A pardon (or “executive clemency”), does not “erase” the event. Rather, it constitutes forgiveness and relief from punitive obligation.

        Judicial relief through expungement in NJ will clear the record for all intents and purposes, though the information will still be available to law enforcement.

  11. One of the main reasons I moved from NJ to Pa as soon as I turned 21. Better gun laws here and a much more gun friendly state in Pa. That was 32 years ago and I never looked back.

    • I just got my copy of “The Asbury Park Press”.
      Hidden on page 9A was the AP report of the pardon of Shaneen Allen, with the notation she was also charged with possession of “armor penetrating bullets”.
      It seems like the gun-grabbers only know two kinds of “evil”, prohibited bullets — “armor piercing” or “dum-dum”.
      Every bullet falls into one of those categories or the other, and it makes no difference to them which kind of those bullets Shaneen Allen was charged with possessing. To their mind-set, no one should have ANY kind of bullet.

  12. Did you get the part that says the pardon can be revoked? What would she have to do to get it revoked, refuse to support his run for president? Even with a pardon the state has its boot at her throat.

  13. What concerns me about this is that as I understand it, she’s still a convicted felon. A pardon doesn’t nullify your crime, it just forgives you for it.

    I think she’s lost her gun rights for life. If I’m wrong, one of the legal minds here can correct me.

    • You are right, but with that pardon, she may now apply for an expungement and that will have the effect of never having been committed. That clears her federally as far as firearms. I don’t know what she has to do as far as state possession rights, but my educated guess is she is either cleared or she can apply for reinstatement of her state gun possession rights. You can bet though that after a pardon and expungement, she will get her gun rights back.

      A pardon may be an absolute or a conditional pardon. An absolute pardon completely terminates a penalty and the pardoned convict is put to a position as if s/he has not committed an offense.

      • “A pardon may be an absolute or a conditional pardon.”

        It’s a conditional pardon. Read the last sentence in the letter.

  14. That was the right way to handle it and the right thing to do. Now do the next right thing and fix the damn law so people don’t have to live through a nightmare. If someone hasn’t had their lives turned upside down, they just don’t grasp the concept and the depth of issues it causes. It’s not fun.

    • The New Jersey constitution doesn’t give the governor the authority to just create laws on his own, or unilaterally repeal the ones on the books.

      Who do you think he is? Barack Obama?

      • A LOT of the anti-gun stuff in NJ (what constitutes “assault weapons” and “justifiable need”) is in the NJ Administrative Code, which the AG can change in 5 minutes.

  15. Best of news for Ms Allen.

    I’m not convinced the Gov did it with only good intentions, though. If the verdict stood, it could have become a test case for the Supreme Court, leading to the complete overturning of NJ’s draconian, gun laws. If it served Christie’s best interest, he would have let her rot.

  16. The mother was a victim of both a criminal and an unjust government. Shame as to why lawful self-defense denied to citizens by legislative ink on paper while claiming to represent the Republic, is disingenuous at best while being responsible for the murder, rape, robbery and civil punishment of its citizens.

    • Yeah, right, so what’s your point? They know that, it is not an accident. And they keep getting elected.

  17. A good case example of why we need reciprocity. I can’t imagine how much money is wrapped up in this one case, not to mention the pain experienced by the victim. And then the entire matter was deeded a colossal waste of time and money by the Gov. Frigging stupidity.

    • Yeah, there may be circular firing squads about the Gov, but I think we can all agree that woman did not deserve the crap she was thrown into, it being over is Happy Days!

  18. What about all of the others that were screwed by victim-less “crimes” in NJ? Can they get a pardon also?

  19. I assume she was pardoned after an intensive campaign by the gun control lobby on her behalf? Because we all know, based on that affair with the fake NYC gun store, how much they hate to see gun control laws applied on a technicality against people who pose no threat to public safety, right?

    Right?

  20. Doesn’t she still have a felony record? So she isn’t allowed to protect herself and her family??

    What a joke.

  21. Read the book “The Blue Tent Sky” and you’ll realize just how insidious NJ’s gun laws are. And not only that you’ll come to realize that there’s no such thing as true “justice” in the American court system.

    Christie had to pardon Aitken’s sentence too, but in this case he spent time behind bars and he still can’t see his son…

    • I would say that there can be justice in the system, but it depends on the people involved with it and the laws it is enforcing. In NJ the people were turds and so were the laws they were enforcing.

      A truly horrifying book, I recommend it. (Though pedants will be distracted by the fact that either Aitkin or his editor have “discrete” and “discreet” confused.)

  22. I’ll add that a word to the wise about reciprocity and recognition laws can go a very long way to preventing this kind of scenario.

  23. Every time I see that picture of her and her happy little family it makes me want to cry for the pain that had been unjustly inflicted upon them and for the pain that should be justly inflicted on those responsible.

    I’m glad it’s looking like a happy ending, but not all’s well that ends well. The repercussions will follow her a long time, and all for trying to protect herself and her children and being honest about it.

    • No kidding. Here’s somebody just minding her business and trying to make a life for herself and her kids, and here comes NJ, determined to fuck up her life for no reason that I can imagine. If that can happen to her, none of us are safe, anywhere. Really scary.

      I know damn well there is more to this story, I cannot imagine a police officer doing anything more than telling her she better watch out, arrest and prosecution is unimaginable to me. Did she refuse him a BJ or something?

  24. Dont think for a moment that ends it for her.

    Yes, she is pardoned and she will have no problems with the New Jersey DoJ.

    But this event will dog her in any family Court procedings, If she wants to get a CCW again, the IA can absolutely use it against her. As can any state/Federal court or law enforcement agency in america.

    New Jersey should be avoided at all costs by anyone who actually thinks the 2nd am is of any consequence.

  25. Every time I read a story like this, I wonder why these unconstitutional laws aren’t challenged and ultimately brough before the Supreme Court? What does the NRA do with its money if it doesn’t fight bullshit cases like this?

    Amendment II: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Infringe: to defeat, frustrate, to encroach upon in a way that violates law or the rights of another. Merriam-Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary

  26. This isn’t a victory in any way. The fact that this was ever even an issue is a tragic reminder that we no longer live in a free nation.

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