by In one of the last acts before he leaves office on Tuesday, Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) issued a long overdue pardon to Brian Aitken. The pardon issued on Friday pardoned Brian for possessing hollow-point bullets and simple assault. His earlier conviction for illegally carrying firearms was overturned by an appeals court who found that he was indeed, as he always claimed, moving to a new residence.
Aitken, a businessman whose seven-year prison term previously was commuted by Christie, said he was “so happy to finally put this chapter behind me.”
“Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me over the years,” Aitken said in a Facebook post. “I can’t thank Gov. Chris Christie enough.”
Aitken was arrested in January 2009 when a Mount Laurel police officer found three unloaded guns in his car. Aitken had purchased the guns legally in Colorado, but lacked a permit to carry them in New Jersey.
Aitken served almost four months in a state prison for unlawful possession of a weapon and other offenses before Christie commuted his sentence in December 2010.
We interviewed Brian on the Polite Society Podcast after the release of his book on the arrest, court battle, and sentencing to prison. His book, The Blue Tent Sky: How the Left’s War on Guns Cost Me My Son and My Freedom, is available on Amazon. I’ve read the book and it would be $1.99 well spent for the Kindle version to fully comprehend the war on gun owners in New Jersey.
Brian issued this note of thanks on his Facebook page:
Thank you everyone who has stuck with me over the years. I’m so happy to finally put this chapter behind me. Tuesday will be a sad day for the State of New Jersey but today is an incredibly happy day at the Aitken household. I can’t thank Governor Chris Christie enough. I’m sure there’s more to say but it’s all still a bit surreal. I just wanted to make sure you guys heard it from me first.
Since he had his sentence commuted by Gov. Christie, Brian wrote his book, got married, started a business, and had a daughter. However, unless I’m mistaken, I still don’t think he has visitation rights with his son from his earlier marriage which is incredibly sad.
You can see more about the Brian Aitken miscarriage of justice in this video by NRA News and in his talk with the Cato Institute.
I’m glad that Brian has his full life back now and I’ve both happy and amazed that Chris Christie did the right thing in pardoning Brian.