[:(!]

SELF-DEFENSE SLAYER MAY FACE DEPORTATION
[url]http://www.nypost.com/commentary/76997.htm[/url]

May 29, 2003 -- A HARLEM grocery clerk-turned-vigilante could face an even greater opponent if he is convicted of gun charges, the U.S. government said.
José Acosta, 69, who has been a legal resident of the United States for about 25 years, may be deported if he is convicted of using an illegal gun to shoot one of three armed thugs who tried to rob the grocery store in which he worked Sunday night.

"Anyone convicted of a weapons-possession charge could be placed in a removal proceeding," said an INS official.

The rule applies to any gun-possession charge regardless of the circumstances, the official said, explaining that the decision to deport an offender is in the hands of an immigration court judge.

The news has infuriated supporters of the vigilante, who believe that he shouldn't have even spent 21/2 nights in jail for shooting suspected stickup man Luquarn Washington, 19.

"How about if we deport the three kids who broke into the store," said the Rev. Brian Jordan, an immigrant advocate at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Manhattan.

Manhattan DA staffers declined to discuss the issue, perhaps because they face the same dilemma encountered by their counterparts in Brooklyn and Queens who were legally bound to prosecute two vigilantes who used illegal guns to kill attackers.

The Acosta case, however, raises the stakes because a man considered a hero by local merchants who were being terrorized by a gang of thugs could be thrown out of the country.

"What? I didn't know that," said Acosta's shocked son, José Acosta Jr., of Scarsdale, whose wife gave birth to a boy Monday.

"That's a huge problem. I'm definitely going to fight" the immigration officials who may seek to deport his dad.

Flustered, the son said, "What bothers me is the whole concept: the reality that you penalize someone for defending themselves."

A lawyer told the Harlem vigilante not to talk to the media, but his son said: "He didn't even know that the guy was hurt until Monday."

An actual unsigned editorial from the New York Post:

FEELING LUCKY, PERP?
[url]http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/editorial/76958.htm[/url]

May 29, 2003 -- Be dead or be arrested.
That's the choice New York's mindlessly enforced gun laws force upon otherwise law-abiding people.

Consider:

* Mohammed Dramy, a 40-year-old Gambian immigrant, was shot dead Tuesday during an apparent robbery in Harlem.

The perpetrator is still at large.

* Meanwhile, two bodega employees, Jose Acosta, 69, and Victor Alejandro, 23, are alive following an attempted armed robbery the same day.

And it's a perp who's dead.

Sadly, Acosta and Alejandro are now charged with criminal possession of a weapon.

As three armed would-be robbers entered their store waving guns, Acosta pulled out a .22-caliber pistol, fatally shooting one; the others escaped.

Now, Acosta and Alejandro are looking at jail time.

Which is better than being dead.

But is it fair? Of course not.

Should they have sought a gun permit?

Yes, but the complicated application process in New York City dissuades people from applying.

At best, it takes six months to get a so-called "premises" permit for one's home or business. And now it appears that the city has sharply reduced the number of licenses it approves.

Meanwhile, the bad guys have no trouble whatsoever finding weapons - and they never will, no matter how many gun-control laws are passed.

Acosta and Alejandro face a trial for using an unlicensed weapon to defend their business - indeed, their very lives.

Even so, they're better off than Mohammed Dramy.

All things being equal, Acosta and Alejandro need to be let off the legal hook.

And New York needs to reform its gun laws.

So if you use a gun to protect yourself you're a "vigilante," huh? Ass wipes. [furious]

This is a dupe topic

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=188501&w=myTopicPop

This is about the fourth case of this kind in the last few months in New York City.  It generally goes like this:

Citizen is threatened with armed robbery by criminal.
Citizen shoots and kills or injures criminal.
Criminal is removed from the street and can no longer continue preying on other citizens.
Citizen's pistol turns out to not have been registered with New York City's 1-year long permitting process costing $200 and four visits to  a police station during working hours.
Citizen is arrested and is charged with criminal possession of an unlicensed weapon.

I wonder if these guys could get together and file a 2nd Amendment + 14th Amendment claim against New York's pistol laws.