Traveler Arrested for Gun Appeals to Supreme Court

[PocketProtector]

http://www.foxnews.mobi/quickPage.ht...08.proteus.fma


WASHINGTON -- Missed flights only inconvenience most people. A late flight landed Utah gun owner Greg Revell in jail for 10 days after he got stranded in New Jersey with an unloaded firearm he had legally checked with his luggage in Salt Lake City.

The Supreme Court could decide Tuesday whether to consider letting Revell sue Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police for arresting him on illegal possession of a firearm in New Jersey and for not returning his gun and ammunition to him for more than three years.

Lower courts have thrown out his lawsuit

Revell was flying from Salt Lake City to Allentown, Pa., on March 31, 2005, with connections in Minneapolis and Newark, N.J. He had checked his Utah-licensed gun and ammunition with his luggage in Salt Lake City and asked airport officials to deliver them both with his luggage in Allentown.

But the flight from Minneapolis to Newark was late, so Revell missed his connection to Allentown. The airline wanted to bus its passengers to Allentown, but Revell realized that his luggage had not made it onto the bus and got off. After finding his luggage had been given a final destination of Newark by mistake, Revell missed the bus. He collected his luggage, including his gun and ammunition, and decided to wait in a nearby hotel with his stuff until the next flight in the morning.

When Revell tried to check in for the morning flight, he again informed the airline officials about his gun and ammunition to have them checked through to Allentown. He was reported to the TSA, and then arrested by Port Authority police for having a gun in New Jersey without a New Jersey license.

He spent 10 days in several different jails before posting bail. Police dropped the charges a few months later. But his gun and ammunition were not returned to him until 2008.

Revell said he should not have been arrested because federal law allows licensed gun owners to take their weapons through any state as long as they are unloaded and not readily accessible to people. He said it was not his fault the airline stranded him in New Jersey by making him miss his flight and routing his luggage to the wrong destination.

Prosecutors said it doesn't matter whose fault it was: Revell was arrested in New Jersey with a readily accessible gun in his possession without a New Jersey license.

Lower courts have sympathized with Revell but refused to let him sue the police.

"We recognize that he had been placed in a difficult situation through no fault of his own," wrote Judge Kent A. Jordan of the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. However, the law "clearly requires the traveler to part ways with his weapon and ammunition during travel; it does not address this type of interrupted journey or what the traveler is to do in this situation."

The case is Revell v. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, 10-236.

[PisnNapalm]

*finger* to New Jersey. I hope this guy is able to proceed with his suit.

[streaker69]

The way I see it, if the suit isn't allowed to go through, the problem of arresting people due to no fault of their own will never actually be resolved. The suit should be allowed to go through so the court can actually make a ruling based upon the circumstances.

[Rainier42]

The way I see it, if the suit isn't allowed to go through, the problem of arresting people due to no fault of their own will never actually be resolved. The suit should be allowed to go through so the court can actually make a ruling based upon the circumstances.

Agreed. I hope NJ has their butt sued, then maybe they'll start using a little common sense.

[ChamberedRound]

The way I see it, if the suit isn't allowed to go through, the problem of arresting people due to no fault of their own will never actually be resolved. The suit should be allowed to go through so the court can actually make a ruling based upon the circumstances.

Agreed. While Revell didn't follow the "letter of the law" in theory, the law doesn't really address the situation he was placed in.

On one hand, I would hope the Supreme Court will grant cert in the hopes this will be addressed, and allow Revell to sue the parties involved for the mess he was put through.

On the other hand, we have to stop relying on the Judiciary to make law. If the scenario isn't described adequately in the law, the SCotUS could (and possibly should) simply concur with lower courts ruling. Leniency was warranted, but they can't rule on what should always happen in such a case, as that technically requires the legislature to clarify the statue.

[Daedalus]

I, too, hope he kicks the state's a$$. However, something sounds wrong.

If I, a NJ resident, am flying commercial to anywhere in the U.S. I can take my unloaded firearm in an approved container to the check-in counter, fill out the form and the gun goes in the checked luggage bin. The same for ammunition. Where is the distinction between traveling to the airport from my home or a hotel?

The article does not indicate that he did anything other that. It would be different if had loaded and/or holstered the weapon enroute from the hotel to the airport, but there is no hint that he did.

He should not even need the federal travel interstate protection.

[chivvalry]

From handgunlaw.us

New Jersey Law also states that before possessing or transporting any rifle or shotgun without first having obtained a New Jersey firearms purchaser identification card (FPIC), or possessing or transporting any handgun without first having obtained a New Jersey handgun carry permit is a violation of their law.
You can transport it from place of purchase to home. Home to a Certified Shooting Range. Going hunting but must have a valid hunting license. You just can’t have it in your vehicle. Again the law says you must have a FPIC or NJ Carry Permit to even transport firearms in NJ. From all I read and have heard someone from outside NJ must have a very good reason to transport a firearm into NJ and better have the proper paperwork.

[Daedalus]

From handgunlaw.us

Chivvalry is 100% correct. It didn't occur to me that the individual wouldn't have a NJ FPID card.

Under normal circumstances, in a normal state, I would ask why the police were even called in the first place. Have you ever had a TSA agent or anyone else ask for a FPID when checking a firearm? Me either. But - and it's a BIG but - not only was this in NJ it was also in the jurisdiction of the NY/NJ Port Authority Police AND was in Newark. Three strikes and you're out!

Again - I hope he kicks some serious butt!

[knight0334]

Appeal was denied.

[MDJschool]

If the scenario isn't described adequately in the law, the SCotUS could (and possibly should) simply concur with lower courts ruling.

Perhaps you mean dissent yet affirm. There's no way I want to see SCOTUS concur the 'three-state rule' fabricated in Revell by the Third Circuit. If you want to talk about "letter of the law" in theory, there's no way to come up with such a rule.

I see headlines saying that Revell just got shot down. I do not, however, see content in the articles to match those headlines.