Could someone point me in the direction of a sample Courthouse notification letter? I'll be heading into Buffalo in the next few weeks and would like to have my ducks in a row. Based on my understanding, after you send the notification letter, will they respond with their accepted process (legal or otherwise) or do I just show up with a couple extra copies and see what happens ?

The airport snafu, while entirely innocent on your part...didn't you technically commit a crime? And I'm betting one that could have started with an "F" in its classification had you gotten a different set of TSA agents...

Obviously you didn't mean to do it...



-Mark

I'm not big on excuses, and as somebody who argues -- frequently, and publicly -- that folks with badges are too often given a free ride when they break the law, I'm certainly leaving myself open to the argument (which, Tman, you haven't made explicitly -- and it would be okay if you did) that I'm engaging in some special pleading when I argue (and I do) this particular person should be given a slap on the wrist ("Don't do that again. Case dismissed.") because, while she doesn't carry a badge, she does -- like most of us here, including tman -- carry a little plastic card in her wallet.

Yup, if Tman (or I) were to carry a gun past the metal detectors at the HCSO, neither one of us would be guilty of a crime. In his case, it's because he's got a badge (well, actually, it's because he's got the status as an LEO of which the badge is evidence); in my case, it's because I've got the same plastic card as this permit holder does and because, long ago, I sent in a single sheet of paper to the former HennCo County Sheriff, giving my required notice. (I might or might not be in violation of a judge's order; that's another issue.)

And that's why I think that the slap on the wrist is appropriate, in this case -- because the difference between what she did and what I hypothetically would have done is just that sheet of paper. It doesn't symbolize any special status for me -- it just makes me a permit holder who has given notice to the sheriff. I don't get hit with a felony charge....well, actually, I might -- but I've got an awfully good defense; it's the same one that Tman has: the law that forbids carry in a court excepts people like me, and like him, and a few other folks. The only reason it doesn't except her is that she hasn't sent in that sheet of paper.

So, yeah: I think letting this go is appropriate, under the circumstances if -- and only if -- you believe her story: that it was just a matter of forgetting where the gun was. (I do.) That's not an okay thing to do, but I don't think that the combination of that and the lack of having sent in that letter is an offense to public order that in any way rises to one that should be handled by a punishment that includes becoming a convicted felon. I'm not saying that forgetting where one's gun is is okay; it isn't. I'm certainly not saying that permit holders should, as a general policy, be given a pass when they break the law; I don't think that they should. Special rules for "special people?" Nah. That's not okay in HennCo, any more than it is in Ramsey.

But I do think that the interest of justice pretty clearly argue that a permit holder who is in violation of the law simply by failing to give notice really isn't, by virtue of that, the sort of person who should become a convicted felon.

I don't -- at all -- blame the HennCo CA's office for not dropping the charge immediately. They have a responsibility to satisfy themselves as to the facts of the case, before deciding what they see the interest of justice is. And if they reasonably determine that she's full of it -- that, say, while they can't necessarily prove it in court beyond a reasonable doubt, she really was trying to sneak a gun past security for some nefarious purpose -- they'd be right to push the charge. But if they do determine that this was really just a mistake, I think the only reasonable thing to do would be to drop the felony charge.

I think, Joel, that you and I basically agree that there shouldn't be a conviction, assuming that she DID forget and IS a permit holder.

It just seems that if there should not be a conviction, there should not be a prosecution.

In the meantime, she has a pending felony charge, she can't leave the state or carry or get a security cleareance or even make long term plans. I wouldn't loan her money or hire her if I knew about a pending felony.

The signed court paperwork represents a lie, basically, because nobody believes in it, especially the notice of the "maximum sentence" in the Complaint.

The reason, of course, is that the prosecutors are afraid to disappoint some cop who thinks he caught a big fish, so it gets charged and delayed until the cop settles down, and the prosecutor can blame the court system if the cop is still disatisfied. And if she complains too effectively, or can't stand the pressure, she'll actually get convicted.

I don't want the people who work for my government to be so weak they think they need to act this way.

in my case, it's because I've got the same plastic card as this permit holder does and because, long ago, I sent in a single sheet of paper to the former HennCo County Sheriff, giving my required notice. (I might or might not be in violation of a judge's order; that's another issue.)

An aside: Ramsey County seems to have workable system in place to handle this.
I was called for Jury Duty a couple weeks ago and here's how it worked out.
I sent my notification letter to Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher the same day my Jury notification came in. I also printed 2 copies to take with me to the courthouse.
Upon arrival at the courthouse, I had a deputy read my notification letter and sign and date it with his badge number. I kept this copy as a receipt and left the other with the deputy for his records.
I presented my State Issued ID and Carry permit to the deputy.
The deputy found the keys to the lock boxes they keep at the North and South main entrances and I placed my firearm and cellular phone along with a business card into the locked box.
The deputy locked things up, I proceeded through the metal detector without incident and proceeded to Jury Duty.
At the end of the day, I presented my ID and the deputy on duty unlocked the box.
Easy as pie.
I performed 5 days of Jury Duty and things ran pretty smoothly.

*Why did you chose to go through this process instead of locking the firearm in your car?

*Did you show up day 1 CC'ing with your letter? Did you have any concern that said Deputy reading the letter would not understand and head the wrong direction with fact you were CC'ing?

*You you believe this same process would work for Hennepin County?