Mr. Mark Meckler, founder of Tea Party Patriots apparently has a different interpretation of the Second Amendment than the one understood by the New York Port Authority Police Department. Meckler was arrested yesterday for possessing an unlicensed firearm while attempting to board a flight at LaGuardia Airport. “The tea party leader has a permit to carry the weapon in California, but that state’s permit does not allow one to carry a firearm in New York”: “Mark Meckler, tea party leader, arrested with gun”: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70548.html#ixzz1giLtwY1X
It seems that Meckler may have jumped the gun, no pun intended, in interpreting pending legislation regarding the ability to carry a weapon in one state due to being licensed to do so in another. It’s an argument that has been made based on the fact that a driver’s license in one state is accepted in all fifty states, generally, without question. The same argument has been made regarding weapons permits but the jury is still out on that.
According to Queens D.A. Richard Brown, Meckler could be looking to up to fifteen years in prison. Oh and Meckler’s “celebrity” status as a Tea Party bigwig may not do much to help him. You see N.Y.C. courts sentenced N.Y. Giants football superstar Plaxico Burress to two years prison time as well as two years of additional supervised release so if they are willing to send a football hero to jail why would they let Mark Meckler go scot free? He was released pending a Jan. 12 court date. While it is unlikely that Meckler will see fifteen years behind bars some sort of penalty is probable, based on what happened to Plaxico Burress, a figure far more popular and one that has contributed far more to this city than has Mark Meckler.
To his credit Meckler said that he carries a piece for self protection. However to the dismay of many and his own self inflicted embarrassment Meckler said he had not taken the time to research New York gun laws. The moral of the story: next time do your homework and obey the law. To do otherwise carries a high probability of going from a law abiding citizen to a convicted felon, not exactly the way to start off a new year now is it?
S.J. Gulitti
12/16/11
