Why can't Mark Meckler just 'withdraw' his attempt to legally transport his gun?

Kurt Hofmann

Mark Meckler, who co-founded the Tea Party Patriots group, was arrested early yesterday morning at New York's LaGuardia airport for illegal possession of a weapon. The Huffington Post quotes his attorney:

"While in temporary transit through the state of New York in possession of an unloaded, lawful firearm that was locked in a [Transportation Security Administration]-approved safe, he legally declared his possession of the firearm in his checked baggage at the ticket counter as required by law and in a manner approved by TSA and the airline, yet was arrested by port authority for said possession," Stapleton said.

Unloaded, in a locked safe, approved by the TSA, and he declared his possession of the gun--not exactly hallmarks of nefarious intent. Still, in New York, that's not good enough, as the Associated Press explains:
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Meckler, 49, declared the weapon, as required, authorities said. He's licensed to carry the gun in Grass Valley, Calif., where he lives, but that license isn't valid in New York, which has strict rules on carrying concealed weapons, they said.

Such "strict rules," in fact, that an unloaded gun in a locked safe is considered a "concealed weapon."

The degree of legal jeopardy Meckler faces is a bit unclear. The Huffington Post story seems to indicate it's not too serious:

Meckler was still being held Thursday night. He was charged with second-degree possession of a weapon.

A law enforcement source said such cases generally result in a fine, and not jail time.

Well, "not too serious," is of course relative--he was, after all, still in jail last night, after having been arrested before dawn. He will also almost certainly lose the gun--which, by the way, he carries because he has received death threats--forever.

Still, even that is "not too serious" compared to what the Queens District Attorney's Office told TPM Muckraker:

He’s being charged with second degree possession of an illegal weapon, a charge that carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.

15 years, for the second degree version of a "crime" that in itself harms no one? What's the penalty for first degree--life (at least there is no death penalty in New York, unless being forcibly disarmed and left to the lethal mercy of predatory thugs is counted as capital punishment)? The fact that the charge is a felony of course means that if he is convicted, even if he is "only" fined, federal law will prohibit him from ever legally touching a gun or round of ammunition--for life.

On Tuesday, we talked about the the Department of Justice "withdrawing" the letter it had sent to Senator Grassley (R-IA) 10 months previously, flatly denying all "gunwalking" allegations, and how nice it would be if the rest of us could simply "withdraw" indiscretions that had become indefensible. Attorney General Eric Holder told the House Judiciary Committee just over a week ago that the statements made in the letter were not "false," but merely "inaccurate"--a distinction he apparently makes between knowingly lying, and aking untrue statements while beleiveing them to be true. That Holder and other senior DoJ officials didn't know the statements were untrue is rather difficult to believe, and that they could have been unaware of the truth, without being grossly incompetent, is even more difficult to believe--but no matter.

Going back to Meckler's case, no one seems to dispute the notion that he had attempted in good faith to comply with all relevant laws, and simply failed to adequately familiarize himself with New York's insanely draconian gun laws. Seems tailor-made for a DoJ-style free pass to "withdraw" his attempt to transport the gun.

Guess it doesn't work that way for the rest of us, though.