‘Outrage’
Gun Group Sues NY-NJ Port Authority
by Dave Workman
Senior Editor
Alleging violations of the Firearms Owners Protection Act (FOPA) and the wrongful incarceration of an innocent Utah gunowner, the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs (ANJRPC) has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and one of its officers.
The lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the District of New Jersey, seeks more than $3 million in damages for civil rights violations. The victim, and a plaintiff in the case, is Gregg C. Revell of Bountiful, UT. He was held for five days in early 2005 after having been arrested by the Port Authority police at the Newark Airport with a firearm in his checked luggage.
During his incarceration, he was denied access to medication for migraine headaches the entire time, injected against his will to test for tuberculosis, and for the next three days, he was held in the Essex County, NJ, jail with several other prisoners, some admitted murderers. Revell told Gun Week that nobody was searched.
New Jersey gun rights attorney Evan Nappen called Revell’s arrest and incarceration “an outrage.”
ANJRPC President Scott Bach, also an attorney, told Gun Week, “When I heard this man’s story, I became enraged. I vowed to use every resource at my disposal to make sure this never happens again.”
The problem, both Nappen and Bach said, is that this sort of thing has been happening for years to other people, perhaps not to Revell’s degree.
Just what was Revell’s alleged crime? He was arrested for having a firearm in New Jersey without a state license. But, because he was in transit from Salt Lake City to the final destination of Allentown, PA, where he was going to pick up a car he had purchased, both Nappen and Bach maintain he was protected by FOPA, which clearly states, “. . . any person who is not otherwise prohibited by this chapter from transporting, shipping, or receiving a firearm shall be entitled to transport a firearm for any lawful purpose from any place where he may lawfully possess and carry such firearm to any other place where he may lawfully possess and carry such firearm if, during such transportation the firearm is unloaded, and neither the firearm nor any ammunition being transported is readily accessible or is directly accessible from the passenger compartment of such transporting vehicle. . . . ”
Revell’s tale is a traveler’s nightmare. Revell, a 57-year-old real estate broker and car sales hobbyist, married with eight children, is a law-abiding Utah resident with a spotless criminal record. He is licensed to carry a concealed handgun in the Beehive State.
On Mar. 31, 2005 he was flying alone from Salt Lake City to Allentown to retrieve the car he had bought, with the intent of driving it home across the country. When he checked his luggage at Salt Lake City, he declared the unloaded, cased handgun and ammunition in his luggage as required by law. He said he took the gun for personal protection on his return road trip. The pistol was an AMT Backup chambered in .45 ACP, with a nylon holster inside the case.
After a stop at the Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, airport, Revell’s flight to the Newark, NJ, airport aboard a Continental jet arrived 45 minutes late, causing him to miss his connection to Allentown.
Revell was told he would be on a later flight, leaving Newark at 8 p.m., but after a five-hour wait at the airport, he found himself being put on a bus that would drive him and other passengers to Allentown. It was then that he learned his luggage was not on the bus, so he went back to the Continental lost baggage area to reclaim his luggage, which was outside the airport’s secure area. For some reason still not explained, his baggage had been checked through only to Newark, yet a subsequent check with the airline computer did show his bag had been checked to Allentown.
Having retrieved his bag, and learning that there were no more connections to Allentown that night, he went directly to the Airport Sheraton Hotel, according to the lawsuit, a copy of which was obtained by Gun Week.
The next morning, he was back at the Newark airport where he once again, as required by law, declared his unloaded, cased handgun in his luggage. He took the bag to the nearby Transportation Security Administration to have it screened, and found himself soon surrounded by several officers. They moved him away from other passengers and began questioning him about the handgun and ammunition. He explained the travel troubles he had experienced, and that he was in transit to neighboring Pennsylvania, and they arrested him for possession of a handgun without a permit.
He was held overnight in the Port Authority jail and later transferred to the Essex County jail. While Revell described the Port Authority facility as clean and quiet, the county jail was abominable. For eight hours, Revell was held in a single cell with eventually 27 other prisoners. There was one clogged toilet that would not flush and was caked with vomit, he recalled.
He was given a stale sandwich and some kind of juice drink for nourishment. During the remaining three days he was held, for a total incarceration of 99 hours, he said the food was inedible, and he lost about 10 pounds. He suffered a 30-hour migraine, and became acquainted with admitted murderers, one of whom wanted to know how many people he had killed.
“I told him that I don’t kill people,” Revell recalled, “I’m a law-abiding citizen. And I asked him how many people he had killed, and he said ‘four.’
‘Tip of Iceberg’
Revell finally secured his release for a $15,000 cash bail, was allowed to continue his journey after having not bathed for five days, and eventually retained Nappen as counsel. He flew back to New Jersey for a court hearing and waited in the courtroom for more than an hour with Nappen and Bach, and the judge never showed up.
Nappen, he said, talked to an assistant prosecutor and got another court date, and on the very day that Revell was to have flown back to New Jersey a second time, he got a call from Nappen, who reported that the prosecutor’s office had dropped the charges with an administrative dismissal.
But his firearm, ammunition and holster, the gun case and locks have not been returned, and Revell wants his property back. Lewis Powell, an assistant Essex County prosecutor, assured Gun Week that Revell can get his pistol back, by “going through the formality” of contacting the county prosecutor’s office and filing the appropriate paperwork.
Since the charges were dismissed against Revell, Powell “can see no reason” why the firearm would not be returned. He further stated that Revell can also petition the court to have the arrest expunged from his record.
Surprisingly, Powell confessed he was not aware of FOPA.
The case has enraged Bach, and Nappen believes this lawsuit could force an end to such arrests. Bach believes the Revell case represents “the perfect FOPA storm.” That is, the plaintiff is “squeaky clean” and was victimized by an agency that ignored the protections built into FOPA to protect Americans traveling with firearms.
“We’re going to teach the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey a lesson they’re not going to forget,” Bach predicted, “and we’re going to send a message to every other airport (and) every other law enforcement officer.”
In addition to the Port Authority, the lawsuit names as an individual defendant the arresting officer, Scott Erickson.
“They need to understand what their responsibilities are and that there are consequences,” Bach said. “New Jersey is one of the most anti-gun jurisdictions there is. Where better than to stand up . . . and make them pay?”
Nappen called Revell’s case “just the tip of the iceberg.” Other travelers have been prosecuted under similar circumstances, simply because they were following federal law by declaring their firearms at ticket counters in New Jersey or New York.
“There is no question that Mr. Revell suffered tremendously for no reason and for doing nothing wrong. . . . This man’s got damages,” Nappen said. “He’s been harmed beyond anything that might be considered an inconvenience. He was 100% righteous.
‘Can’t Comment’
Because a lawsuit has been filed, Port Authority spokesman Mark Lavorgna told Gun Week he cannot comment on Revell’s case. He did say the Port Authority employs 1,600 police officers, that it is independent from other law enforcement agencies in New York and New Jersey, and that officers have the authority to enforce state laws on Port Authority property. He maintains that the arresting officer was in the right, and that the agency would support his actions.
Port Authority officers do not have jurisdiction off Port Authority property, however. Lavorgna also said that, because the lawsuit has been filed and it might raise issues about how the Port Authority police handle situations, “Anytime an issue is made with a procedure, it is reviewed.”
Likewise, Powell from the county prosecutor’s office, told Gun Week that “I am going to make some recommendations to a couple of people . . . that they look at (FOPA) and from there maybe do some training of the law enforcement personnel.”
A review will hardly be good enough, though. Revell, who has since joined the National Rifle Association and plans to become a life member, explained in a very calm demeanor that he hopes this never happens to another person. For his part, Bach said the ANJRPC is part of the lawsuit because it has members in other states who should never face such an arrest when they are protected by FOPA.
The Port Authority is aware of FOPA, which is detailed on the New Jersey State Police website. There, anyone who checks will learn that, “New Jersey laws governing firearms permits, purchaser identification cards, registration and licenses do not apply to a person who is transporting the firearm through this State if that person is transporting the firearm in a manner permitted by federal law.”
Whether the argument will be made on “technicality” that Revell crossed the line because he took his luggage to an airport hotel and then returned the following day to the airport remains to be seen. It evidently was not an issue for the Essex County Prosecutor, who dropped the charges.
Nappen estimated it might take as long as two years for this lawsuit to wind its way into a courtroom and be decided. In the meantime, there is no indication that the Port Authority police in New Jersey and New York are going to change their procedures.
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