“[New Jersey comic and actor] Carlo Bellario was filming scenes for an independent film in a residential neighborhood in November in a role he took on for free and the chance to be entered in the Internet Movie Database,” foxnews.com reports. “His character was a drug dealer’s bodyguard, and Bellario toted a realistic-looking airsoft gun that was meant to fool big screen viewers one day.” Guess who turned out to be the fool when neighbors called 911? “As an actor, I’m not required to make sure that the producer has all the proper permits,” Bellario says. Nice try. And for his trouble . . .
Bellario was handcuffed, arrested and charged with weapons possession under New Jersey’s strict gun laws, which say any weapon that fires projectile – even if it is just a pellet – is a firearm . . .
He did a four-day stint in the Middlesex County Jail, where he was held on $10,000 bail. The movie’s producers backed out of their promise to pay his bond, he said . . .
The trip to the lockup was just the beginning. Until his court situation in resolved, he is not allowed to leave the state, he said.
“That means I can’t go on the road for comedy gigs,” he said. “I can’t earn any money.”
Bellario is still trying to raise money for his legal fees. He started Go Fund Me page, where he has raised nearly $4,000. Facing up to five [ED: ten] years in prison, Bellario also says that he is also having trouble finding a lawyer willing to take on his case and hopes that someone is willing to work pro bono.
“No one wants to touch it for less than $10,000,” he said referring to his search for legal representation.
What criminal intent is involved here? Exactly none.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is no longer running for President. He no longer needs to bolster his pro-gun creds by pardoning more Americans whose only crime was exercising their natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms in a state that refuses to recognize same. So, will he pardon Mr. Bellario?
Otherwise, Mr. Bellario will be generating new material from behind bars. For years. And his gun rights will be gone forever. All the more reason Congress needs to wait until after a Republican president assumes office before approving a Supreme Court nominee. Know what I mean?
The first time TTAG ran a story about NAAGA, I signed up. Didn’t see anywhere to pay a fee or anything. I just got on the email list that rarely sends anyting out. I tried to use the forum but it didn’t seem to be working. I know this org is in its infancy but I don’t see it progressing as it should. Basically all it has done for me is make it able for me to brag to my black coworkers that I am a member of the National African American Gunowners Association. Without a T-shirt, the topic rarely comes up.
The headline says ten years, the story says five. Which is it?
He’s looking at five to ten.
Pass stupid laws, get stupid results.
As an film actor, Bellario should reach out to movie producer Harvey Weinstein, who (as we all know) is a great proponent of human rights.
Common sense gun laws in action
Will New Jersey ever rejoin America?
No, but we may some day re-conquer them and annex them back into the Union.
Jeez, You’d think the AO would of made a different call on this considering the victim compared to the person at fault, looks like a witch trial may ensue for new jersey (At least most people with common sense would see the flaw in NJ Law on this).
So… Anybody else think that voting doesn’t matter?
If you are a minority of the topic voted upon – no it doesn’t matter.
Given that most people don’t vote, even a minority can swing the election in the right direction.
^this. Get our collective butts in gear and go VOTE
In 2 counties I’ve lived in, elections were won by SINGLE DIGITS — people or ordinances — didn’t matter – SINGLE digits made the difference in the out come -and I mean EVERY YEAR IN AT LEAST 4 ‘THINGS THAT MATTERED ENOUGH TO BE VOTED ON — often by less than FIVE votes –
And you thought your vote didn’t matter. I’ll tell you there is a definition of a ‘road surface’ that has ranchers spending hundreds of thousands of dollars they don’t have over the next 10 years to ‘pave’ (press gravel) roads they MAY use twice a year — once to deliver cattle and once to move them to sale – and most didn’t want to drive the 30 miles to vote – and they lost by 3 votes. THREE votes — FOR ‘paving all surface roads on public land in x county by the year 2025.’ – had 3 ranchers driven 1 mile or 30 miles to vote – or voted by mail — they’d not have to ‘pave’ the roads on their leased BLM roads that they use twice a year with gravel at $2500 a load. PLUS equipment and labor to spread and ‘press’ it into the dirt surface. That, or ‘abandoned’ the road by double berming and ‘raking’ the first 100 yards of each end of the road. Ouch. 3 votes.
I live in Massachusetts, so my vote doesn’t matter, not even a little. And I’m still going to vote, for the same reason that I’m going to buy another gun — because I can.
Same here. Even if I have to hold my nose.
I so love malum prohibitum laws.
New Jersey. Guns. Enough said.
Here is hoping Chris does the right thing. If anything his producer should take the heat because he should have gotten the legal side squared away.
Who was the victim of this ‘crime’? Besides the easily offended offensive state of new jersey, that is…
Victim? … Victim? … We don’t need no steekin’ victim! We got laws!
Didn’t Christie say he’s this huge 2A supporter and has made NJ gun laws less onerous? I’m sure he was boasting before about how much he has done for the NJ gun owners. Except that he has never done anything substantial. And now that he’s out of the race, he’ll do even less. Like I said before, Christie is fine with the way things are in NJ. He doesn’t care about the 2A, unless it’s in his favor. This ridiculous story is more proof that the incredibly restrictive laws and harsh punishments are here to stay. Politically, it makes no difference now whether he pardons somebody like that or not, so he might not do it if need be. Oh and btw, I told you so.
You are assuming that Christie has no intentions of ever running again. But this is a good litmus test to see if he was full of BS about supporting the 2A. There is a precedent for governors to let the courts work it out before stepping in, but if this guy is convicted and he doesn’t pardon him he can forget about ever being president.
This is one NJ resident (at present) who will be watching that situation closely.
I wish Andrew ‘Dice’ Clay Jr. only the best.
I smell another Christie pardon.
What criminal intent is involved here?
Exactly none.That comedian defied the whims and dictates of the ruling class. It’s too bad he wasn’t making a propaganda film whose purpose was to usher in draconian gun-control: then the local prosecutor would refuse to prosecute the man since, “it would not serve the public interest”. (Reference David Gregory felony possession of a 30-round magazine in Washington D.C. as a “prop”.)Uncommon – it’s a crime against the state. The state is the victim. haha.
This is a good reminder to never step foot in NJ.
I have a better reminder for ya — Newark.
In other news, a certain news anchor flaunts a non-replica firearm magazine, and commits a crime (felony?). And gets away with it.
The other two pardons by Christie dealt with real firearms, and he absolutely will (eventually) pardon this guy because the quoted article is dead wrong. Airsoft guns are not treated as firearms here. I’ve personally been to three brick and mortar shops in the past four years that carry all things airsoft, no 4473 forms required. If it’s your typical BB or pellet gun then yes, it counts as a firearm in NJ, which is already seven shades of shit, but airsoft has always been exempt. I doubt this guy was threatening anybody. What most likely happened is the cops overreacted to the panicked sheep’s 911 call because they’re not used to scenarios involving guns unless it involves real criminal activity, because so few people in NJ own guns. In the suburban/urban sectors almost none of the cops are POTG or know anything about NJ’s utterly convoluted laws to begin with, so they always carry a “GUN = CONVICTION” mentality.
Curious if removing the orange tip from the airsoft gun (so it appears to be a real firearm on film) would turn it into a “firearm” in the eyes of NJ law…
Not sure, but everyone who wasn’t a noob at high school airsoft gatherings broke off or spray painted the orange parts. If we were going to an official venue that required them, kids got creative with spray paint or neon duct tape and the refs let it pass. No idea how that would relate to this guy’s unique predicament, but as I said the article is wrong. If the aspiring Christie does not pardon this man for possession of what in the eyes of NJ law is a plastic toy, it would be an colossal embarrassment for him and his campaign hopes.
It’s a GD shame that the only real hope to see justice done, in the face of a stupid law like this, is another intervention by the Governor. That radical a step should not be necessary in any state that honors the 2nd Amendment, as is required under the 14th Amendment.
High taxes, dwindling employment opportunity, and other economic conditions are reason enough for New Jersey to lead in citizens leaving for other states. Stupid gun laws just add to the incentive to leave.
So Carlo, how have you voted over your voting lifetime?
I am reminded of the saying “A Democrat is a Republican that hasn’t been mugged yet.” Looks like Carlo has been mugged.
And a Republican is a Libertarian who has not been mugged yet. Capice?
And an anarchist, is simply a libertarian who can read….
I have no sympathy for this idiot.
1. The guy lives in NJ. I can’t have any sympathy for someone who chooses to live in a state or foreign country with laws like that.
2. According to NJ Law, any use of “theatrical firearms” for the purpose of movie making requires a permit from the NJ State Police and the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission will help a producer get such a permit. The producers should have known that and the actor should have known that. Heck, I found it in a 5-seond web search.
3. In most states, what he did would be considered brandishing or some similar charge, even though the gun was not real. According my state law, it’s illegal to “point, hold or brandish” any firearm, whether it’s loaded or not (or even real or not), in a way that would “reasonably induce fear in the mind of another of being shot or injured.” Obviously he did induce fear, because the neighbors called the cops.
I don’t even consider this story a gun rights issue. The POTG don’t do ourselves any good by sticking for boneheads.
Gun owners online turn on each other like starving dogs in these threads all the time. Its disgusting. How can you be ok with this guys life being ruined because he had some object the state disapproves of? That’s the big issue in my opinion. Not specifically gun laws but any law that is designed to put someone in a cage for years of their life simply because they owned, used, or ingested some object or substance the state decided was verboten. “Possession” laws are terrible and the complete opposite of freedom.
Punish people for doing something wrong, not for having the wrong something.
+1
I resent the idea that I am at fault, and contribute to the evil, by merely being a resident (and victim) of New Jersey.
I’m glad I live in Kentucky. It will take a long time to change things in NJ. Keep trying.
Fook NJ. That’s worse than the dim old dude in Scotland(?) you featured last week. With a so-called homemade shotgun. I wish I had $ to send him. And NO he doesn’t “deserve” this. Neither do Cali residents or New York. Or freakin’ Illinois where I live.
Not even the vilest of genocidal, child molesting drug dealers, could ever cause enough harm to deserve anything as wretched as a government.
Born and raised there. Fuggedaboutit.
Where is the mens rea? No intent, no crime…..
Why would the cops arrest this guy when it was obvious that he was filming a movie. Are the police going to start arresting all the parents in the park where the kids are playing with toy guns.
This is why people are leaving NJ in droves. It has become a police state and has chose not to follow the constitution.
In what alternate reality is the author living that he thinks we’re going to see the GOP holding the White House again any time soon? The only way it would happen is if we could get California to divide their electoral votes according to the votes actually cast.
End of the day he was on the street holding what to general public looked like a firearm. Dam sure if that was me I would have made sure the producers had a permit and that local law enforcement knew what was going on. End of the day he broke the law, doesn’t say much for his producers though that he have left him to deal with it himself.