Retired Marine offered NYC gun charge plea deal?

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He sure is playing with fire here. I don't see how he wins if it wasn't the state's website that he got the confusing information from, but IANAL. If he wins it's great for us and for the national reciprocity cause, but if he looses it's more political fodder for that nutcase Bloomberg.
 
While I strongly disagree with the laws in NYC I don't think the chance of getting them overturned is very good. Going through the court system will take a long time, and probably not wind up with a happy ending. I would indeed like to see someone take NYC laws all the way to the Supreme Court, but I'm not sure the risk/reward ratio for this particular person is worth it.

No, I'm not a lawyer, but my son in law is a practicing attorney in Manhattan.
 
I admire him for standing up for what he thinks is right, but, it was an irresponsible and quite honestly dumb thing to do ( carry a gun in a state you are not allowed).

He should take the deal and move on.

And avoid doing business in that city ever again.
 
A misdemeanor with a fine of $1,000.00 no jail may appear lesser now compared to 3.5 years and a felony, but the next Lautenburg-type gun law (with an ex-post facto previous-misdemeanor treated same as felony penalties) could make taking the plea a bad move in the long run. It's a gamble.
 
"Principle-of-the-matter" is a mighty difficult factor to argue against. I won't opine as to what he should do, because it didn't happen to me. Regardless, I wish him well in his decision, and the outcome.

For those others of us, there are books available that detail each of the 50 states' firearms laws. It is a worthwhile purchase. For my part, I always check with a fellow THR member who is in law enforcement before I travel to another state.

Geno
 
While I think the gun laws of NYC totally suck I need to play devils advocate here.

The former grunt in question stated he was transporting $15,000. in gold to a LI refinery.
The Empire State Building, a well known tourist trap is not on the way to long island. Maybe he was on the way to Penn Station to catch the LIRR, who knows.

$15 k in gold now days is not that much. Makes me wonder, if he could of sent it to the refinery another way.
If he had the gold on him, why is he sight seeing?
If he didn't have the gold, why is he packing a weapon?

It is all over the internet, that one does not bring guns to NYC. Period.

Personally, I think he should take the plea deal and run.

The NYC law needs changing, IMO, he is not the poster boy to do it.
 
A misdemeanor with a fine of $1,000.00 no jail
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Are we sure that his plea would allow him to keep his IN CCW? IN asks about misdemeanor convictions on its app; this would be a firearms-related violation.

However, IN statutes seem to consider an applicant not to be a "proper person" only if they could have been sentenced to a term of more than 1 year (not the case with a NYC Class A misdemeanor), or have been convicted of a domestic violence crime or a crime "involving an inability to safely handle a hangun."
 
Our Marine friend knows his situation better than we. He and his lawyer are looking out for his best interests. Good luck with the fight.
ll
 
Was just going to post something along the same lines as HSO. The DA has offered him a plea deal of a Class A Misdemeanor. How his home state would treat such a conviction is a serious question. I haven't seen anywhere what the specific charge the DA was going to ask him to plea to. If the DA did not specify a specific Class A misdemenor, that would be another reason possibly to question the plea deal.

Class A misdemeanors in NY include some really problematic stuff that the DA could use, like criminal possession of a weapon, criminal menacing, endangerment and criminal tresspass. This is just not a good situation for him either way...
 
There are provisions under the statute that set a sentence greater than a year and such a sentence could cause him to not keep his permit and may cause the loss of his right to possess.
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The prosecutor has offered to let the guy off with a $1,000 fine and ten days community service.

From the link:

"This plea deal is made available to your client with the understanding that should he decide to accept said offer, he would be sentenced to pay a fine of $1,000.00 and required to perform 10 days of community service at a place both parties could agree was appropriate," the prosecutor's letter read.
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About 18 months ago I went back to the Socialist Republic of Massachusetts to retrieve my firearms. I haven't lived there since 1986 but with all the deployments I stored them with my fathers guns. Everyone that knew I was getting them said be careful going through N.Y. and I mean everyone. A couple of law enforcment friends said my conceal carry or my Retired Military ID (USMC) wouldn't help me if I got stopped. I stayed away from the city and took Interstate 84 to PA. and obayed the laws. I could see the headlines. "Retired Marine with arsenal in van arrested headed to NYC":what: it would have been more condeming probably.
Best of luck to that young man. To the person that said he's only 28 so he can't be retired. Yes he could be, its called medical retirement.
 
Manhattan prosecutors have quietly offered a no-jail, misdemeanor deal to the retired young Marine who'd been facing a mandatory 3 1/2-year prison sentence after trying to check his Indiana-registered handgun at the Empire State Building, court papers reveal.
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Oh, it's flexibly mandatory! It took me awhile to figure that out.

I hope all the publicity forces New York City to let him plea down to a suspended $20 fine for littering.

You couldn't pay me to visit a cesspool like that.
 
I wish him the best, and I wish the dictators of NY the worst. <edit>
 
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I do not see how the District Attorney can let this person walk, even though the District Attorney should grovel at the feet of this brave Marine.

If you let this Marine off the hook you have to let every person caught breaking the gun possession laws off the hook. That will never happen, and this Marine should take the misdemeanor and move on.

BTW, I did not notice a military service in Mr. Vance's Wiki biography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Vance,_Jr.
 
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As much luck as I wish the guy, he messed up.

He didn't know the laws and it is his own fault.

Not any better than when Plaxico Burress, the NFL receiver, accidentley shot himself in the leg in a NY night club and got 2 years.

Remember folks- your brain is the most dangerous weapon you have- and it doesn't matter if you are using it or not.
 
So we are responsible for our actions, AND inactions ? If we don't prevent gov't servants from enacting unconstitutional laws WE are held accountable, but THEY aren't?
 
7.62 Nato said:
So we are responsible for our actions, AND inactions ? If we don't prevent gov't servants from enacting unconstitutional laws WE are held accountable, but THEY aren't?
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Even if we disagree with the law, we must abide it. We can strive to change it through proper channels. However, to be ignorant of the law or disregard it and ask for for forgiveness after the fact is irresponsible. I hope this marine is not charged with a crime, but should he be, it is only because he did not educate himself before making his own decisions.
 
maskedman504 said:
Even if we disagree with the law, we must abide it. We can strive to change it through proper channels. However, to be ignorant of the law or disregard it and ask for for forgiveness after the fact is irresponsible. I hope this marine is not charged with a crime, but should he be, it is only because he did not educate himself before making his own decisions.
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Actually, some feel that if the law is unjust then it is our duty not to obey it. You have to be willing to accept the penalty to take this course, and hopefully not by yourself. Think Gandhi.
 
maskedman504 said:
Even if we disagree with the law, we must abide it. We can strive to change it through proper channels. However, to be ignorant of the law or disregard it and ask for for forgiveness after the fact is irresponsible. I hope this marine is not charged with a crime, but should he be, it is only because he did not educate himself before making his own decisions.
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Perhaps you missed the part where I said UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Isn't that SUPPOSED to be the law of the land (ALL THE UNITED STATES) ?
 
"This plea deal is made available to your client with the understanding that should he decide to accept said offer, he would be sentenced to pay a fine of $1,000.00 and required to perform 10 days of community service at a place both parties could agree was appropriate," the prosecutor's letter read.
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He's a US Marine. He's already done his share of community service, thanks.
 
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