24 year-old Steffon Josey-Davis was pulled over two years ago on a New Jersey highway. Steffon said that he was going under the speed limit when he was pulled over. When the officer asked for his license and registration, he reached for the glove compartment to get it. When he opened the compartment, he realized he had left his legally owned pistol that he uses for his job as an armored car security officer. He hands the gun over to the officer, showing him a receipt and credentials that he legally owned the gun. The officer told him that he could come and collect his gun on Monday. When he arrived at the police station, he was then arrested for illegal possession of a fire arm, a second-degree felony in the state of New Jersey. Steffon told the officers that he was expecting the permit to carry the gun later that week, and he had only bought the gun a month earlier. Now he can no longer apply for a job, he was sentenced to 1 year probation after pleading guilty and his entire life is ruined.
This connects to our class in the fact that it is out 2nd amendment rights to be able to carry a gun. I believe that New Jersey is too strict of a state when it comes to gun control laws. He showed legal ownership over the gun, there was no good reason that he was pulled over in the first place, and he was expecting his carry permit later in the week. I believe that the author of the article was leaning more towards the side of Steffon in the fact that he was arrested unfairly and that his entire career and his life is ruined because of it.
I share the same opinion with you about the strict behavior of New Jersey. He followed instructions and did as the officer said. He did nothing wrong even though he shouldn't have had the gun in his car. He was clearly trying to get a permit for the gun and I don't see any reason his life is now in shambles. He is not some criminal off the streets that has black market firearms.
ReplyDeleteGood job Ryan! I agree with you, in a lot of states they are far to strict on the gun laws. If he wasn't speeding then he shouldn't have been pulled over in the first place and there wouldn't have bee a problem. This mans career is ruined because he mistakenly got pulled over and put on probation for legally owning a gun.
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