Arrested!!
Hello folks, I reading and just had to post this .....
I am in the tire business, and travel all around the country selling tires at racing events. I also hunt, shoot trap, target, etc. I live in Maryland where I own my business, it is an LLC, and I am the president, so I do not have to have a concealed carry card to transport, only to load and conceal. My normal routine is to travel according to "safe passage" laws and keep the firearms be they my pistol, rifle, shotgun, etc unloaded, locked and separated from me while driving, etc. and have NEVER, had a problem, while hunting and/or target shooting in WV, VA, PA, MD, etc etc.
I had to go to NHMS which used to be NHIS in loudon New Hampshire. There are customers and friends of mine up there that shoot, so we agreed to go to the gun club up there together and target shoot, on a thursday night, the night before the racing activities started on friday. I did as I always do with my pistol, I put a large thick shanked pad lock through the chamber and handle, so as to prevent any loading of the firearm, and even if I pre-loaded a round and then locked it, or someone somehow forced a round past the shank, (impossible, I tried,) the firing pin couldn't engage. I then placed the gun inside of the closet that I keep in the back of the truck, which is in a compartment inaccessible to the driver. So I'm good to go right? Read on....
During my travel through Conn I hit a bridge with my very large box truck, and damaged the roof severely. The rear door was bent backwards and a very large and dangerous opening split between the right wall of the box, and the rear door structure. I moved my tire inventory and equipment around a bit to keep things from falling out and endangering other motorists. I then pulled over and slept because I was coming up on ten hours and a violation of driving and CDL and log book laws. But before going to bed, I decided to bring the glock up into the cab, and place it under the passenger seat, because if someone stole my tools or tires, I'd recover financially, but if someone stole my gun I'd be in big poo poo and of course major guilt issues. I'm a conservative Christian believer and a gun owner, so though I believe in the 2nd ammendment, I also believe in the necessity for responsible and careful gun ownership and stewardship, and the idea of someone helping themselves through the gap in the side of the truck and getting my gun illegally scared me deeply.
So okay, next morngin I'm up, and heading north through Mass to get to NH. A DOT officer pulls me over to "take my truck off the road because it's damaged" and then asks me three questions. 1) Are you drinking, or were you drinking, because I see you drove into a bridge. I answered, "no sir, I hit the bridge on an unfamiliar road at night in the heavy rain and it was a visibility issue, not an alcohol issue. My wife is a fundamental sunday school teacher and if I ever drank anything she'd kill me" 2) He then asked, "do you have any drugs on the truck, to which I answered, "Sir, please.... I just told you I'm not into that kind of thing. You are welcomed to search the truck, I have nothing to hide." He was satisfied by my offer and legitimately believed me, but then the crusher came. Question 3) "Do you have any firearms with you? I replied, "Yes sir, I do. I have a glock 27 locked, secured, and unloaded. Would you like me to get out of the vehicle to allow you access to it or would you prefer I release it to you myself?" I was taught to say that by my family, there are police officers on both sides, some DC capital police, some county.
The next thing to happen is tragic, heart breaking, and horrible. He asked me to go ahead and give him the firearm, so I got out of the drivers seat, went back behind the cab section, crawled under the floor area, pulled the gun out and then gave it to him through the passenger window of the cab. He then asked for the ammunition, so I told him that I didn' have any target rounds with me, we were going to buy that at the event to support the gun club, but I did have ten rounds of personal protection rounds with me since that is what I keep in the gun at my store and he was welcomed to hold that. I also told him about some turkey huntnig rounds that were still in the cargo box. I wasn't as worried about securing them because there was no shotgun on board anywhere, so I just left them in the closet back with the tires. He asked why my gun wasn't in a case, but only had a padlock through it. I explained that the case and lock that glock supplies are a joke, and offer no real deterrent, (in fact, the cheap lock that it comes with only works 1/2 the time anyway) and since the closet closed and was the "normal" location for it before the accident I didn't need to have it.
He went to his car, verified that I have NO CRIMINAL RECORD OF ANY KIND, EVER, FOR ANYTHING, and that I did own the business in MD, and that the gun was lawfully purchased and serial number on it and it was lawfully mine etc, and then came back up to where I was now standing outside of my truck and asked me to sit in the back of his car. I said sure, I don't mind, you can search the truck, here are the keys, you can do anything you like, I have nothing to hide, own the gun legally, and am on a lawful trip to NH.
While I was in the back of his car, more officers came on the scene, and an argument ensues between them. Most of the officers were saying, "let him go, there's an exemption for competition shooting" and one of them wasn't saying anything at all..... but finally, the one that pulled me over that I was compelety honest with, and courteous to, came back and arrested me for not having a Mass FID card, and for two counts of possession of high capacity.
I have never harmed a human in my life. And never want to either. But biblically my wife and I believe in the scripture that reads, "there is a time to buy a weapon for defense" and also in the 2nd ammendment. I was responsible in following all of the laws of safe transport, and lawful useage, to the absolute best of my ability, intelligence, and research as possible. If the gov of Mass wanted to fine me $500 for taking the gun out of its case, (which is attached to the back of the cargo area) and putting the gun, locked and disengaged, in the cab to secure it since the lock on the cargo area was rendered useless in the accident, okay, fine. Here's your $500. But right now I am a criminal, with a criminal record, they took my gun and I can't qualify to buy a replacement.
I hired a Mass lawyer that knows gun laws up there, and even my own lawyer is saying, "you put it in the cab without being in a case. You're out of luck." even though the lock I had on it is way, WAY better, stronger, and safer than the stupid plastic thing that glock gives you.
Please pray for a judge, or a jury, with some common sense, because if they convict me on this, there is a mandatory sentencing. No leniency, no pbj, no fine in lieu of time, nothing........ mandatory jail time. I will lose my business, since my part time employees have jobs during the week and can't run my company without me. My wife has no income now, and couldn't afford our home or mortgage on her own even if she did have a job. If they get me on this I am not only never, ever allowed to re-purchase a firearm, or hunt, or target shoot ever again, (MD confiscates upon knowledge of a felony OR misd gun charge if the sentece exceeds one year, and by confiscate I mean all guns, long, short, hand, whatever.....) but more importantly my wife will lose our home, and I will come out of jail with no business, a felony record, and no way to provide for her.
After I was interviewed and told I would be released from jail, (I was detained in a cell for a few hours) I asked for a ride to a local hotel, or to the place where they towed my truck to. The officer that arrested me pointed to my T-shirt, (it had a picture of the cross on it and a religious reference to following the leader in Jesus) and he verbally referenced the Bible I had in the front on my truck, and said, "dont' worry Mr Mise, I'm sure that GOD will get you out of this................" and then said that he would give me a ride if I wanted to go to strip club, but since "I didn't want to go there" he couldn't offer me a ride.
I then walked out of the cell area upon official release, then paused in the lobby, and asked one of the officers if he could direct me to the person that could issue me a receipt for my confiscated Glock. He said that no one was going to give me a receipt, because it was evidence. I said, "Please sir, that gun is registered to me in my name, and your office confiscated it, and I understand that, and it's okay, but I am at least entitle to documentation or a receipt am I not?" His reply was troubling. He stated that the police doesn't need to answer for the gun, and that it was safer with them than with me, and that I had "better" leave the station. I was verbally pushed out of the station with no direction, no where to go, no vehicle, thank the Lord they didn't steal my money so I could buy dinner and a hotel room, but you get the picture. I was always raised to respect and to trust policemen, and having them in my own family, I always promote that too. We even teach the kids in our ministry at Church to look for police in times of trouble. But I saw a side of America, and a side of "the law" that I never, ever hope my children, or my wife ever have to see.
I was arrested in a land where sodomy is legalized, and the institution of marriage is being destroyed. The murder of innocent children is being deemed a woman's right because of the sin of fornication and the unwanted responsibility of an ensuing pregnancy, and the police use the F word more than the criminals do. They F'ed me twenty times up there I'm sure of it. But a gun owning business owner who has no record, or criminality of any kind, is stripped of his dignity, criminalized, religiously teased, and will most likely be convicted as a felon.
My name is Quentin James Mise. Owner of Mize Mobile LLC, a Maryland corporation, and this story is as true as the good book itself. I am writing this on June 1st 2009 at midnight, and am scheduled to appear in Dudley Mass on June 15th for pre-trial, whatever that means. May the people of our nation repent, and re-kindle the trust in God that made our country great, and may the Lord heal our nation and bring justice back to our land.
Prayerfully yours,
-Quentin
Romans 10:13
