Shaneen Allen: Pardoned!

Shaneen Allen and her children

Since shortly after she was arrested for actions that are protected by the Second Amendment in most of America, I’ve been following the travails of Shaneen Allen, a young mother arrested by New Jersey police for daring to carry a handgun legal in Pennsylvania. My prior articles are:

Shaneen Allen: The Cruelty of New Jersey Authorities

Shaneen Allen At Bearing Arms

Shaneen Allen: An Update

Shaneen Allen: A Real Race Card

Shaneen Allen: Resolution? 

Now, finally, there has been a fitting and “about time” resolution to her troubles. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has pardoned her. Breitbart has the story: 

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has pardoned Shaneen Allen, a mother of two and concealed carry permit owner who was arrested in New Jersey for carrying a weapon in her car.

Allen, a resident of Pennsylvania, had a concealed carry permit and a lawfully registered handgun while she was traveling through New Jersey, when she was pulled over by a New Jersey police officer for making an unsafe lane change.

She informed the officer of the handgun in her car, unaware that it was illegal in the state of New Jersey. Because of the misunderstanding, she was arrested and faced felony prosecution.

Allen’s case became a cause for gun rights activists, such as the National Rifle Association. Executive vice president of the National Rifle Association Wayne LaPierre celebrated the news in a statement to Breitbart News.

‘This ends a vulgar chapter in an endless series of shameful episodes where political opportunists seek nothing but their own advantage. I compliment Gov. Christie for doing the right thing,’ he said.

credit: nydailynews

I’m not sure whether Gov. Christie did it because he believed it the right thing to do. It would be nice to be able to believe that at least one high American public official actually did something because it was morally and constitutionally right. His record on gun control issues is mixed at best; few would mistake him for a fully-fledged Second Amendment supporter. Of course, a republican governor of a virulently anti-gun state might have to bow to political reality, but there has been no obvious downside to the pardon.

Christie watched the case develop, but frequently stated that he would not act until the verdict from the justice system in the State of New Jersey was in.

‘I have real concerns about it, but I have to give the criminal justice system an opportunity to deal with this,’ he said last September.

‘If we get to the end of the criminal justice adjudication, and I believe that justice was not served in a manner in which my authority under the constitution allows me to fix, then I’ll certainly consider that,’ he added.

And here is the actual pardon:

So there seems to be a happy ending for Shaneen Allen. What about everyone else that lives in New Jersey, or those who have the misfortune to visit? Why not, rather than arresting the innocent, subjecting them to the possibility of years in prison and the expense and trauma of being forced to defend themselves for exercising their Second Amendment rights, bring New Jersey laws into compliance with the Constitution? For now, the politicians, and perhaps even the majority of the people, of New Jersey find progressive orthodoxy more compelling.

Why anyone would choose to live in or visit New Jersey is beyond me.