'Mayor Bloomberg Is Driven Crazy by My Flintlock Gun'

New York police are insisting that a Revolutionary War buff in Brooklyn obtain a permit for a flintlock rifle even though it's not covered by the city's gun registration law. The law includes an exception for "antique firearms," defined as weapons that require separate loading of bullets and gunpowder. Michael Littlejohn commissioned the $825 flintlock replica from a Tennessee blacksmith, and police found out about it after he left a receipt at a copy center, where someone discovered it and ratted him out. The Daily News reports that the lead detective assigned to harass Littlejohn told his lawyer "he had orders 'from higher-ups' to pursue the case." So far Littlejohn is standing firm. "This is the last legal gun that you can have without registration in New York," he says. "Mayor Bloomberg is driven crazy by my flintlock gun—the one that won the American Revolution."

[Thanks to Tricky Vic for the tip.]

Comments

[andrew]

They want to take my old land mines and mustard gas too! How will we protect ourselves?

[T]

Well, maybe NYC is afraid of the precedent. A bunch of guys armed with those took on the most powerful empire in the world and won. NYC should be cake, comparatively.

[John]

"Michael Littlejohn commissioned the $825 flintlock replica from a Tennessee blacksmith, and police found out about it after he left a receipt at a copy center, where someone discovered it and ratted him out."

Bloomburg is a fascist prick. Everyone knows that. What I would like to know is what kind of person turns over a receipt for a flintlock found at a Kinkos to the police? East Coast liberals really are superstitious about guns. They are totally irrational. More irrational than the biggest snake handling hillbilly.

[Rich]

"The lead detective on the case told Littlejohn's lawyer that he had orders 'from higher-ups' to pursue the case, according to an e-mail the lawyer sent to Littlejohn."

Top. Men.

These guys are upset that Littlejohn's "higher-up" is higher up. Stay tuned.

[JB]

Fuck Bloomberg and fuck his armed bodyguards.

The day those hypocritical dickless cunts are chopped up into little fucking pieces I will cheer.

[Mister DNA]

Off topic, but this is a follow-up of something previously reported by Reason.

The City of Clearwater, Florida lost their case against bait shop owner Herb Quintero, who had protested the city's fines levied against him for having a mural on the side of his store. His form of protest was simple, but elegant - he added the First Amendment to the mural.

[Zeb]

"East Coast liberals really are superstitious about guns."

To be fair, this is only a subset of east coast liberals. I know many east coast liberals who are OK on guns. Hell, I used to be one before I realized one or two things about personal property rights. And our friend MNG seems to be fairly sensible on the subject.

[TrickyVic]

"""East Coast liberals really are superstitious about guns. They are totally irrational."""

Irrational indeed. They think the only people that should have them is government. They fear guns but have no problem calling the people who do carry one when they need help, or need to feel safe. Guns are bad, but cops with guns are good.

I love debating guns with people in NYC. I've been told no one should have one. So my natural response is then lets disarms the cops since guns are bad. I always get a blank look like the cognative dissonance is causing a migrane headache. Well most the time, sometimes people think the cops shouldn't have them either.

[John]

True Zeb. Not all of them but a lot of them. The person who turned this into the police is a nutcase.

[Nick]

You look up Nanny-stater in your libertarian approved dictionary and it has a picture of Bloomberg. What a douche.

[HeadTater]

I can just see this guy attempting a drive by with his single-shot flint lock rifle. What a public menace!

I guess Bloomberg, Ted Kennedy and so on are under the impression that anyone who cannot afford to hire armed guards is not worthy of protection.

[TrickyVic]

"""You look up Nanny-stater in your libertarian approved dictionary and it has a picture of Bloomberg."""

Yeah. Yet he would bitch to the skies if government started nanny-stating his buisness.

[Thomas Talionis]

Look what they did to Plaxico Buress. He should be fined for acting reckless (just like reckless driving) but he shouldn't lose his career, millions of dollars and be sent to prison.

People forget that his team mate was robbed at gunpoint the week previous to his incident. People forget the 2nd amendment too.

[the innominate one]

to paraphrase Xeones, yo, fuck Bloomberg

[Vanessa]

"The cops visited Littlejohn's apartment and sat down this month with the Tennessee blacksmith who forged the rifle."

Wait - they actually sent police officers to Tennessee to interview the blacksmith? That is beyond absurd as well as being a waste of resources.

[the innominate one]

Nick | July 29, 2009, 4:13pm | #

You look up Nanny-stater in your libertarian approved dictionary and it has a picture of Bloomberg and Giuliani tongue-kissing. What a pair of douches.

better

what is it w/ NYC mayors?

[hmm]

Dude. Just the other night I saw a drive by with one of those. Someone almost got cancer from the smoke.

Bloomberg is a tard.

I wonder if I can get a gig as an armed guard protecting my very valuable wallet. Or better yet as an armed guard guarding myself.

[John]

God you are right Vanessa. I didn't notice that. That is truly fraud waste and abuse.

[Jane]

People forget that his team mate was robbed at gunpoint the week previous to his incident.

He doesn't need a gun, just call the police.

People forget the 2nd amendment too.

We have a living constitution, it doesn't apply anymore.

[R C Dean]

The cops visited Littlejohn's apartment and sat down this month with the Tennessee blacksmith who forged the rifle.

I hope the blacksmith answered every question with the Fifth Amendment. I would have.

Since there is no law that could possibly have been violated here (the gun doesn't need registration in NY, muzzleloaders can be bought through the mail, etc.), what possible purpose could interviewing the blacksmith have served?

[Fluffy]

Jack Dunphy says:

If this case keeps insisting on the letter of the law, he's going to get shot.

[John]

I am really pissed about the Plax Burris thing. Where the hell are the race hustlers on this one? Here is a successful black man being railroaded by a publicity whore white DA. Why can't they be out maomaoing on that case?

[Rich]

> I wonder if I can get a gig as an armed guard protecting my very valuable wallet. Or better yet as an armed guard guarding myself.

Nice thought, and doable in some locales! But, if those gigs don't fly, how about friends guarding each other? What community organizer could be against neighborhood watch?

[the innominate one]

fluffy ftw

[hmm]

Wait - they actually sent police officers to Tennessee to interview the blacksmith? That is beyond absurd as well as being a waste of resources.

I think your missing the point here. ITS A GUN. GUNS KILL PEOPLE! This evil bastard makes these weapons of destruction.

Jane fails at trolling like my fat cat fails at licking his own ass. (is that really a fail?)

[Fluffy]

But seriously, could anything better demonstrate the obsessive need for control that motivates our modern police / panopticon society?

The police resent this guy for insisting on the proper application of the law, and for refusing to get a permit that isn't required.

It's not a waste of resources to them because it's not about the law and it's not about the actual public danger arising from this gun, it's about reinforcing the principle that the city is in charge and you can't "evade" its power and authority by finding "loopholes" in the law. That's worth any expenditure to a monster like Bloomberg.

[Rich]

> ... what possible purpose could interviewing the blacksmith have served?

Thoroughness. Person of interest, don't ya know.

[EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy]

Delicious irony. Various windbag authority figures who are usually to be found defending the idea that "the text of the law" take precedence over "legislative intent" find themselves on the other side of the issue today. What to do? What to do?

Not that they would be happy if they defined "antique" by age either, because there are cartridge repeaters older than any reasonable age based definition of the word.

[John]

If I were some blacksmith in Tennesee and the NYPD called me about this bullshit, I think the words fuck and off would be a part of the conversation.

[Fluffy]

what possible purpose could interviewing the blacksmith have served?

Honestly [no snark here, I swear] I'll bet they were trying to determine if the weapon could fire a cartridge if the cartridges were custom-made.

Because if it could, then they might be able to force him to register the gun.

Of course, in that case anyone who owns a piece of really wide pipe should register it as a gun, too, because with the right modifications you could use it to launch custom-made mortar shells.

[Peter]

Why can't they be out maomaoing on that case?

He's not friends with Obama.

And, shut the fuck up Jane, yo.

[TrickyVic]

"""what possible purpose could interviewing the blacksmith have served?"""

NYC has been trying to sue out of state gun dealers for years.

"""The police resent this guy for insisting on the proper application of the law, and for refusing to get a permit that isn't required."""

In all fairness, it seems the cops want nothing to do with it but they have orders from higher ups, probably the mayor's office. I think it's more accurate to say the "higher ups" to whom the police refer resents this guy.

[John]

I think Jane was being ironic. I don't think she was serious or trolling.

[TrickyVic]

""""If I were some blacksmith in Tennesee and the NYPD called me about this bullshit, I think the words fuck and off would be a part of the conversation."""

You're being nice John, those two words would be the total conversation on your end. 😉

[alan]

Fucking Bloomberg, may his excruciatingly painful death involve a vat of butter, a flintlock gun, a carton of cigarettes, and a razor sharp parking permit. Life sucking vampire asshole.

[Peter]

I think Jane was being ironic. I don't think she was serious or trolling.

If that's the case I wish she would have taken it to the completely overblown levels I'm used to seeing here so that I could pick out the irony more easily. Since I started reading here my tolerance has gone through the roof.

[R C Dean]

Of course, in that case anyone who owns a piece of really wide pipe should register it as a gun, too, because with the right modifications you could use it to launch custom-made mortar shells.

Do tell, Fluffy. Preferably with blueprints.

NY's Finest: Mr. Blacksmith, we're trying to determine if the weapon you made could fire a cartridge if the cartridges were custom-made.

Mr. Blacksmith: I'll plead the Fifth.

NYF: Now, sir, we're not investigating you and have no reason to believe you committed any crimes.

Mr. B: Fifth.

NYF: Do I understand that you are refusing to cooperate with our investigation?

Mr. B: Fifth.

NYF (to partner): I believe this man is getting tumultuous in asserting his Constitutional rights, a shooting offense under the Dunphy Doctrine.

[BLAM BLAM BLAM]

[T]

Of course, in that case anyone who owns a piece of really wide pipe should register it as a gun, too, because with the right modifications you could use it to launch custom-made mortar shells.

I have somewhere in a box a lovely set of instructions from the Army on how to turn a piece of pipe into a 12 gauge shotgun. That pipe doesn't have to be all that big. All you miscreants with your indoor plumbing better watch out!

[Plaxico]

Hey Obama,
Could you help a brother out?
I see, popularity polls and doing the right thing have to be copacetic first before you are willing to lay it on the line.
Well, forget you, motherfucker.

[ChicagoTom]

I am really pissed about the Plax Burris thing. Where the hell are the race hustlers on this one? Here is a successful black man being railroaded by a publicity whore white DA. Why can't they be out maomaoing on that case?

Plaxico is an idiot. His gun went off in his sweatpants in a night club. He could have killed someone. Hardly a sympathetic figure here.

Should his carreer be ruined? No, and I don't think he deserves jail time. But he is hardly a victim. (I guess you could say he is being railroaded because he is being treated harsher than most other athletes tend to be. But then I think athletes get treated better than the average joe.)

[Johnny Longtorso]

The War on Guns will eventually result in cops kicking down your door and ransacking your house looking for plumbing (pipes, aka items that can be turned into illegal gun barrels and bombs) and anything made out of lead (i.e. things that can be melted down into illegal bullets).

[NeonCat]

@ Johnny Longtorso

So if you have lead pipes, you're doubly fucked?

[Seamus]

I love debating guns with people in NYC. I've been told no one should have one. So my natural response is then lets disarms the cops since guns are bad. I always get a blank look like the cognative dissonance is causing a migrane headache. Well most the time, sometimes people think the cops shouldn't have them either.

At least the Yippies, back when they called for the disarmament of America n 1968, added "starting with the police".

And the Black Panther Party, back in the 60s, was pretty sound on the Second Amendment. (I don't understand why former Black Panther Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) now has such a hard-on for gun control. Maybe it's because he believes that the government is now in the hands of the "right" people (as opposed to the bad old days when the pigs could slaughter Fred Hampton and Mark Clark in their beds), that gun control laws will disarm all of us crackers, and that people whose hearts are pure (like Annette Stevens of the Million Mom March) can push for legal restrictions on gun ownership, then just ignore those restrictions themselves.

[Seamus]

If that's the case I wish she would have taken it to the completely overblown levels I'm used to seeing here so that I could pick out the irony more easily.

I thought she pretty much did that when she said that the constitution "doesn't apply anymore."

[Seamus]

to paraphrase Xeones, yo, fuck Bloomberg

Xeones himself explained to me that you have to include the first name as well. Thus:

Yo, fuck Michael Bloomberg.

See how much nicer that sounds?

[ChrisO]

I can just picture Michael Littlejohn trying to mug someone with his new flintlock: "Don't move, sucker, or I'll be forced to spend the next five minutes getting my rifle ready to shoot you!"

[Matthew]

I'll be forced to spend the next five minutes getting my rifle ready to shoot you!"

Actually, he could get one shot off. The next one would take a while though.

That's all irrelvant, fluffy's summation is correct--it's not about what law he did or not break, the point is that he's behaving all uppity and free-like and that is terrifying to a fascist like Bloomberg.

[ChrisO]

Actually, he could get one shot off. The next one would take a while though.

Really? I was always under the impression that loaded flintlocks didn't travel very well. http://hunting.about.com/od/blackpowder/ht/htloadbprifle.htm

Not that I know too much about the subject. I had a toy flintlock as a child that fired paper caps. I think I got it at Colonial Williamsburg or some such place. Many good times were had with that "dangerous weapon". F U, Bloomberg.

[ChrisO]

I should say, the toy gun fired cork balls using paper caps.

[Fred]

Fuck Bloomberg and fuck his armed bodyguards.

The day those hypocritical dickless cunts are chopped up into little fucking pieces I will cheer.

What JB said.

[libertymike]

Chicago Tom-

It is not about whether Plax is an idiot. He is a victim of a thuggish police state that wants to incarcerate peeps for exercising their natural rights.

[Ska]

So if you have lead pipes, you're doubly fucked?

Not if you're Col. Mustard.

[Silentz]

Jane, you ignorant slut.

[Seward]

Under Anglo-American law that which is not prohibited cannot be denied.

[JB]

Wait - they actually sent police officers to Tennessee to interview the blacksmith? That is beyond absurd as well as being a waste of resources.

The NYPD pigs have to check out the TN pussy. After all considering the rancid, NYC, shit-cunts they have to deal with on a regular basis, they need some quality southern pussy. Especially considering their trash wives, they need an excuse to get out of town and hit some strip clubs and whore-houses where the wife's cousin doesn't work.

[Matthew]

You people are sick! Supporting Bloomburg? Letting him get away with sending INVESTIGATORS to Tennessee to interview a gun maker? What's he going ot do now? Hire thugs to beat him up? File lawsuits to make him pay and pay and pay?

New Yorkers are wussies. You let some creep like this thug reign over you and do nothing?

You are pathetic.

[hmm]

I'd give my left nut to be the smith. Officers with zero jurisdiction on my property asking me questions about guns. I think I had that wet dream once.

[Hacha Cha]

of course the anti-gun hystericals love the government to be the ones with a monopoly on guns because they believe the almighty state can do no wrong and that the average citizen is intrinsically evil and/or too stupid to responsibly own a weapon, even if its a fucking antique.

[the innominate one]

Matthew: What are you talking about?

To everyone dumping on Jane: get your irony meters recalibrated. John's right, she's joking, not trolling.

[robc]

Matchlocks would be cooler than Flintlocks. You could recognize the gang members by the burning punks.

[Episiarch]

Of course, in that case anyone who owns a piece of really wide pipe should register it as a gun, too, because with the right modifications you could use it to launch custom-made mortar shells.

It's called a zip gun, Fluffy, and they have been common in places that had extreme gun bans. There was a good example of one in Death Wish 4.

Of course, it just illustrates the absurdity of banning weapons, as humans are endlessly inventive in arming themselves regardless.

[LarryA]

Wait - they actually sent police officers to Tennessee to interview the blacksmith? That is beyond absurd as well as being a waste of resources.

They probably were asking if the gun had a pistol grip, bayonet lug, or grenade launcher. Then they could use the "assault weapon" ban.

I am really pissed about the Plax Burris thing. Where the hell are the race hustlers on this one? Here is a successful black man being railroaded by a publicity whore white DA. Why can't they be out maumauing on that case?

You didn't get the memo? Discrimination against a minority is completely politically correct if it's for gun control.

[Kyle Roberts]

Not to brag, but in high school, a friend and I built a pneumatic (compressed air powered) potato cannon that launched a shaped chunk of ice through the side bedding of a ford ranger pickup. Or rather, dented it suddenly enough to tear a hole in the metal. I'd always wondered what that would have done to a person...

The only things we used were pvc pipe, an old bike tube, a drill, a quick-release valve, some silicone gel, teflon tape, and a bike pump. And water & potatoes for ammo. Final cost was like 25 buck at home depot.

[Pro Libertate]

What do I need a gun for? My flesh-eating zombie warbot/valet will protect me from harm quite adequately, thank you very much.

[Sean L.]

Can I ask a question of the group? I'm a very strong supporter of 2nd amendment rights, but my liberal cubicle neighbor always says, "If you can have a gun or a rifle, what about a machine gun? What about an RPG? Should I be able to buy sticks of dynamite at the local 7-11? What's the line?"

So, that's my question to you: What's the line, and more importantly, why?

[monkey on juice]

SeanL
You can buy machine guns, grenade launchers, and explosives. Its just a matter of having the proper licenses, paying the proper taxes ( look up "National Firearms Act") and in the case of explosives, having a government approved storage bunker.

FWIW, I own over a dozen machineguns, including several beltfeds. All are 100% legal and I can shoot them at most public ranges without any interference from the pigs.

[TrickyVic]

In NYC it's not about if it can be used as a gun, the powers that be don't like anything that looks like a gun, including toys.

[Tony Richards]

Mr. Littlejohn has contacted New York attorney Jerold Levine, and Mr. Levine has agreed to represent him pro bono. Levine has alot of experience fighting the NYC bureaucracy.