NJ Father Separated from Son for Legally-Owned Guns
Kevin Felts 11.02.17
As the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act is working its way through congress and our elected officials weigh the merits of the bill, gun owners’ rights are being trampled. When states pass laws so restrictive the exercising of rights becomes almost impossible, the federal government has a duty to intervene. This is exactly the case of gun ownership in America today.
Numerous states have taken a zealot approach to firearms. These absurd laws have resulted in innocent people being sent to prison. Their only crime: They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
One such example is Brian D. Aitken, who was arrested for having firearms in the trunk of his car, unloaded and locked.
From Vice My Life as a Convicted Gun Offender Who Did Nothing Wrong.
I got sentenced to seven years in prison for legally owning guns. I had purchased them in Colorado and brought them with me to New Jersey, home to some of the harshest gun laws in the country, where I moved to be closer to my young son.
I complied with all of the regulations, but one day the police searched my car and charged me with unlawful possession of a weapon—even though my handguns were locked, unloaded, and in my trunk.
The court said it was on me to prove that I wasn’t breaking any laws, which obviously was very difficult.
Can we see an issue with the above statement? Since when is someone required to prove his or her innocence? Not only is our right to keep and bear arms being trampled, but now gun owners have to prove they are innocent?
This is exactly why the federal government must pass the SHARE act and rein in overzealous state governments.
Pass The SHARE Act
Let’s go back to the 1960s when Democrat-controlled states were passing laws designed to prevent minorities from voting. What happened to ensure everyone could vote? The US Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Rather than each state having its own laws determining who could and could note vote, the federal government stepped in,
Now that various state legislatures are controlled by anti-gun zealots who make criminals out of law-abiding citizens, it is once again time for the federal government to step in.
Just as voting was a major rights issue in the 20th century, gun rights are the major rights issue of the 21st century.
Pass the SHARE act!
