To paraphrase Winston Churchill, this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning of the end of New York City’s draconian gun laws. If a New York City jury acquits a Florida landscaper of gun charges when he clearly violated the Bog Apple’s handgun regs, then there’s been a sea change. They have and there is. “Jonathan Ryan, 29, was busted Feb. 21, 2010, when cops pulled him over on the Upper East Side for making a right turn on red, which is illegal in the city,” newyorkdailynews.com reports. “Cops confiscated a black Sky [sic] .9 mm pistol from his glove compartment and charged him with criminal possession of a weapon. He faced a stiff sentence of three and a half years in prison if convicted.” But he wasn’t. And that means . . .
That there’s a big ass disconnect between New York City gun laws and . . . wait for it . . . common sense.
Cops and prosecutors said ignorance New York’s gun laws – Ryan was in the legal clear in Florida, where the gun was registered – was not a good defense.
A Manhattan jury apparently believed it was and found Ryan, who had no previous criminal record, not guilty.
Now what? The case sets a precedent. But even if that doesn’t hold up, you gotta wonder how long The City So Big They Had to Name It Twice can hang onto to its no-reciprocity regs.
The poor guy lost his gun — and $30,000 in legal fees. And he still has the arrest on his record. Welcome to New York.
I’d kick in a few samolians to defray his legal costs, given the potential positive effects a precedent like this could have. Any idea if there’s a legal defense fund set up for this guy?
New York laws and common sense have nothing in common, and they will never make sense.
Curious about the Florida registration as there is no such thing. I guess folks in New York can’t conceive of owning a gun that is not registered somewhere. Heck, I can buy a gun from my neighbor and don’t even have to fill out the 4473 or tell anyone about it. I’m thankful for gun friendly Florida.
I hope he gets his property back. His record cleared. I wonder how does Bloomberg feel about this( NOT!!!!) Shortsighted, self absorbed napoleonic and……………………. probably should stop and listen to the people.
What were the cops doing in his glovebox? I realize it’s bad and all to go digging around in there before the officer shows up (never had an issue doing that though–probably because I do that right after being pulled over, and then have my hands on the wheel with my papers as he shows up). This seems to indicate to me that if one is going to use the glovebox to hold a gun, then one oughta keep registration/insurance elsewhere.
No right on red? What an uncivilized city. Nothing like having a rule that doesn’t apply anywhere else. Is that something so they can make a little money off visitors?
Jury nullification: the best kept secret and an unused weapon in the arsenal of liberty.
Absitivly, posilutly. Love to know how they planted the idea in the jury’s head that they were free to judge the facts AND the law. If the law was wrong they were not obliged to convict under it and only they can make that finding no matter what the jury instructions are.
A jury with common sense in NY, what a concept. Glad to hear about it though. And for the record, there is no such thing as registration in Florida. Don’t know where they got that from.