Brian Aitken Now Free With Your Help
You’ve lit the fire.
Colorado ––(Ammoland.com)- As Senator Everett Dirkson once said “when I feel the heat, I see the light.”
And you just lit the fire that forced a spotlight of attention on Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey as he signed an order commuting Brian prison sentence.
Last Thursday the National Association for Gun Rights’ New Jersey Ground Team delivered over 25,000 petitions to Governor Christie’s office, demanding the release and full pardon of Brian Aitken.
If you remember, Mr. Aitken was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison in New Jersey for never actually committing a crime.
After moving from Colorado, Aitken had followed all of the absurd laws of New Jersey to a tee, only to be imprisoned for those same laws after a judge — intent on not making the case a “referendum on the Second Amendment” — threw out most of the evidence proving Aitken’s innocence.
Despite strong reservations, the jury was left with little choice but to convict.
I asked you to sign a petition demanding Governor Christie grant the full pardon and release of Mr. Aitken.
In response, you and other National Association for Gun Rights members unleashed an avalanche of real political pressure on Governor Christie to stand up for the Second Amendment.
I am proud to say that all the petitions — more than 25,000 of them — were successfully delivered to Governor Christie’s office.
It’s tough for any politician not to notice that many signatures.
And on Monday, Mr. Aitken’s sentence was fully commuted and he was released from prison to spend the holidays with his family.
You read that correctly: Governor Christie felt the pressure of Second Amendment supporters like you and freed Brian Aitken from prison.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t a full pardon, and that’s why I am keeping my eye on New Jersey.
Governor Christie shows all the signs of a man who could attempt to secure the Republican nomination for a White House run, and you and I must get him on the record as saying that the gun laws in places like New Jersey are a slap in the face to its citizens.
Simply commuting the sentence of an innocent man isn’t enough by itself.
Political insiders are keenly aware of how much the votes of Second Amendment supporters can make a difference in a national election.
But people like Governor Christie have spent their political careers in places like New Jersey where they’ve tried to play both sides of the fence.
He needs to be aware of the fact that the rest of this country will not tolerate offenses to our Constitutional liberties.
Nor will they allow Gestapo-style kangaroo courts where law-abiding citizens go to prison with stiffer sentences than drug dealers and rapists for exercising their basic freedoms.
Members and activists from the National Association for Gun Rights are driving this point home by holding Governor Christie’s feet to the fire with petitions from across the country.
He now has to contend with the simple fact that, in less than a week, you and other members of the National Association for Gun Rights were able to blast out 25,000 petition signatures as well as print them and have them delivered directly to the governor’s office in New Jersey.
I can say that I am very proud of what you have done for us and I wanted to thank all of you who signed the petition to right this travesty of justice.
Applying political pressure does make a difference, especially when the pressure is crate after crate of petitions dumped on a governor’s desk.
Your efforts became direct action. And now Mr. Aitken is spending his Christmas with his family instead of behind bars.
Again, I thank you for signing the petition. I will persist in turning your support into direct action like this, and do the right thing wherever and whenever possible.
Yours in Freedom, Dudley BrownExecutive Director
National Association for Gun Rights
About:
The National Association for Gun Rights was founded in 2001 to serve as a grassroots gun rights group focusing on building state-level gun rights groups and lobbying for pro-gun federal legislation. Brown has been a gun lobbyist for more than 17 years. Visit: www.nationalgunrights.org