Picture: Shawn Moore (C)
New Jersey resident Shawn Moore received a visit from authorities after posting a picture on Facebook of his eleven year-old son Josh holding a .22 rifle that had been given to him as a birthday present. I live in the Deep South, and being given a rifle or shotgun by your father is a common rite of passage in some families. I never had one as a kid, but most of my friends did, and I was the odd man out. In those families, the firearm was traditionally held by parents for safe-keeping and only brought out to use for target shooting or hunting under adult supervision. The South is still largely rural, and how to keep and maintain firearms is considered an essential skill for most boys – and some daughters.
I don’t know what life in New Jersey is like. I know that down here there’d be much outrage from political officials and private citizens alike if something like this happened. Maybe some of you Disinfonauts north of the Mason-Dixon can lend some perspective.
He said he received a text from his wife that police and alleged members of the Department of Youth and Family Services had paid their home a visit. It was, allegedly, not a social call.
Indeed, he posted a picture of police in what he describes as “tactical gear.”
He says the authorities demanded to enter the house in Carneys Point, N.J., and check his guns. His lawyer, on a cell phone speakerphone, was privy to all the discussions.
Moore insisted that he wouldn’t open the safe where his guns are kept– as no warrant was allegedly presented to him — and that a lady from the Department of Youth and Family Services refused to identify herself.
The Associated Press says that neither the department nor the police were prepared to comment on the alleged visitation and its purpose.
