I’ve written in the past about the case of Shaneen Allen, the Philadelphia mother and Pennsylvania carry permit holder who accidentally strayed across the Delaware River into New Jersey, got pulled over on a routine traffic stop, told the cop that she was carrying her firearm (which was legal mere miles up that very road), and was arrested for what was in Jersey a felony.
Her prosecutor, John McLain, opted to make an example of the black single mother, rejecting her for a diversion program (on his way to legal notoriety for letting NFL star Ray Rice skate on charges of especially brutal domestic abuse).
Yesterday, after nearly two years of back-and-forth, Governor Christie – never known as a friend of the Second Amendment – pardoned Allen:
I, Chris Christie, governor of the State of New Jersey, by virtue of the authority conferred upon me by the Constitution of the State of New Jersey and the statutes of the state, do hereby grant Shaneen Denise Allen, a full and free pardon for all criminal charges and indictments arising from the arrest occurring October 1, 2013 to include the aforesaid crimes, and this order is applicable solely to said criminal charges and indictments, and to no other.
On the one hand, this is good news. Christie did the right thing.
On the other, it shows the perilous state that the various states’ paternalistic approach to carry laws leaves the citizen in. If you’re a Minnesotan with a carry permit, and you forget to stop at a gas station on the Minnesota side of the Wisconsin, Iowa, or either Dakota border, you could have precisely the same problem.
It’s why the Commissioner of Public Safety need to do the job he was charged to do in 2004, and make Minnesota’s carry permits reciprocal with every state that (according to the law) has a permitting process substantially similar to ours (e.g. – a background check, the basic assurance that the applicant knows the laws).
It is annoying to have to stop, unlock the car safe, but the weapon there for the drive across NoDak, then stop and reverse the process in MT.
MN permits are valid in MT?
I only ask because I may be headed there one of these years…
And yep – that whole “gotta make a quiiiick stop in Moorhead/East Grand Forks” thing is getting old.
South Dakota’s laws are strange. According to my what my deceased father in law has told me in the past, if you have a gun in a locked case in the trunk, it’s considered concealed, and you need a concealed carry permit. If you have it sitting out in the open on the front seat or the dashboard, you need no permit. My mother in law had to get her carry permit for that very reason. She hasn’t shot a gun in decades.
I was told by the sheriff east of the river that my MN permit is valid in WI. As to NoDak, they’ve set up a 2nd level of permit specifically to get MN reciprocity. I know a couple of NoDakotians that were very annoyed by MN dragging it’s feet, at least until they got a Utah permit. Personally looking forward to getting my Florida permit for that reason.
As to Christie, I always figured he pardon her. I just assumed he was waiting to do it shortly before he officially announced an exploratory committee.
Handgunlaw indicates that MN permits are valid in Iowa. Is this no longer correct?
MN permits were valid in MT a few years ago. As far as I know, still are.
Just looked at Handgunlaw. They indicate that MT does honor the MN permit, despite the reverse not being true.