You just know if the government and many of its law enforcement officers had it their way, you would NOT be allowed to own a gun or defend yourself... - Granite Grok

You just know if the government and many of its law enforcement officers had it their way, you would NOT be allowed to own a gun or defend yourself…

walther pp.

First there was this somewhat innocuous bit in the "Merrimack County indictments" listing from the Citizen newspaper back in November:

A Londonderry man who allegedly leveled a handgun at a Northfield man was indicted for criminal threatening. He is alleged to have placed Paul Difilippo in fear of imminent bodily injury or physical contact on August 20. The charge is a Class B felony potentially punishable by 3.5 to seven years in the New Hampshire State Prison upon conviction.

Innocuous, unless you happen to be that person, of course. Unfortunately, for him, it was the ongoing process of what must surely have been a stretch of living hell. You see, he had the audacity to defend himself as he saw fit in a situation that caused him to fear for his personal safety and well-being (gasp!) with a gun. Shame on him (at least according to certain NH officials that sought to make him pay for such an act). Luckily, according to today’s Citizen, the ordeal is over. What isn’t is what the story reveals about the state of a citizen’s right to keep and bear arms and their use in personal defense and preventing further physical violence:

A Londonderry man who was arrested in Tilton last August in connection with an alleged road rage incident no longer faces a mandatory three- to six-year prison sentence because authorities have dropped or "nol prossed" the case in the wake of the witness’ death.

The Manchester attorney who represented him said, "It would have been intellectually interesting to have challenged [the charges]" because he believes the case demonstrates law enforcement’s desire to keep guns away from law-abiding citizens.

The gentleman maintains that he felt his life was in danger when he was forced off the road and he showed his licensed firearm to the man, hoping it would deter the man from further provocation.

Police saw it differently and charged him with the Class B felony of criminal threatening.

How dare he intrude on the cops’ turf. Doesn’t he know it’s THEIR job to do that? So what if some lunatic forced him off the road. He should have waited for the cops to come. And if the lunatic wasn’t going to wait, perhaps, to commit some act, then what? Of course, we all know that if Mr. DeFilippo had run a POLICE OFFICER off the road and ended up shot as a result, most likely it would be found "justfied" like it always is (but I digress…)

 

The witness, Paul DeFilippo, 48, of Wilmington, Mass., who was driving the truck that allegedly forced the Londonderry man off the road, was stabbed to death on Nov. 15 in what the Lowell Sun reported was a rent money dispute with his housemate, Joseph DiPrisco, 46, of 31 High St., Wilmington. DiPrisco was indicted on Dec. 23 on a first-degree murder charge for allegedly stabbing DeFilippo seven times during the fight over rent money.

The Londonderry man said through his lawyer that he has since learned DeFilippo had a lengthy criminal record, including assault.

Keefe said that in some 25 years of practicing law, he has three times defended clients from criminal threatening charges and, in each case, the defendant had a license to carry a firearm. Had this case gone to trial, Keefe said, he would have found it compelling to see a jury’s take on the police decision to arrest him.

"Would the jury have found it productive conduct on behalf of police?" he questioned.

Do YOU think this is "productive conduct"? These kinds of stories make you wonder where government and its agents would really go, given the opportunity. This is but one more example of how precarious our basic rights and liberties truly are. Eternal vigilence calls for just that– or else.

You really should read the whole story, well reported by Bea Lewis. Click here.

[H/T Tom]

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