FormerNY'er
New member
Virginia Law, Section 18.2-308B10, allows a person to carry a gun in the glove compartment of his/her vehicle WITHOUT the need for a concealed carry permit. This law took effect July 1, 2010; prior to that, one had to keep the gun in plain sight in a vehicle, e.g. on the seat or dashboard. The author of the law said the unambiguous intent of the state legislators, and of Gov. McDonnell, was to allow the transit of a pistol in an unlocked glove compartment. Twice the governor sent the law back for modification after Democrats tried to change the law to require the glove compartment to be locked.
My son was arrested in October 2011 for carrying his legally owned pistol in the unlocked glove compartment of his car. To add insult to injury, his car was impounded...costing him over $300 to get it released..., he was held in handcuffs for around 2 hours, and, of course, his gun was confiscated. We hired a very good attorney who got the Loudoun County Commonwealth Attorney to decide to nolle pros the case. Not good enough.
My son did not break the law, the arrest has not been expunged from his record, and he is out over $2300 to say nothing of the tremendous embarrassment, bother, loss of work, missed school, etc. that this has caused...for NOT breaking Virginia Law. This incident occurred not 20 miles from NRA headquarters in Fairfax, VA, to boot. Therefore, we want to sue Loudoun County to get his name cleared (expungement of the charges), to get attorney and impound fees refunded, to get a damages award (how else will government agencies learn), to get an apology from the arresting officer, and to get the Loudoun County Sheriff's Department to issue a statement stating it will provide training for its officers so they do not falsely arrest citizens for carrying weapons in unlocked glove compartments.
Any ideas on where I can get pro bono or contingency representation? This kind of flouting of the law must be stopped. If something as obvious as this is allowed to continue, why bother having organizations defending the rights of citizens to legally carry a weapon?
My son was arrested in October 2011 for carrying his legally owned pistol in the unlocked glove compartment of his car. To add insult to injury, his car was impounded...costing him over $300 to get it released..., he was held in handcuffs for around 2 hours, and, of course, his gun was confiscated. We hired a very good attorney who got the Loudoun County Commonwealth Attorney to decide to nolle pros the case. Not good enough.
My son did not break the law, the arrest has not been expunged from his record, and he is out over $2300 to say nothing of the tremendous embarrassment, bother, loss of work, missed school, etc. that this has caused...for NOT breaking Virginia Law. This incident occurred not 20 miles from NRA headquarters in Fairfax, VA, to boot. Therefore, we want to sue Loudoun County to get his name cleared (expungement of the charges), to get attorney and impound fees refunded, to get a damages award (how else will government agencies learn), to get an apology from the arresting officer, and to get the Loudoun County Sheriff's Department to issue a statement stating it will provide training for its officers so they do not falsely arrest citizens for carrying weapons in unlocked glove compartments.
Any ideas on where I can get pro bono or contingency representation? This kind of flouting of the law must be stopped. If something as obvious as this is allowed to continue, why bother having organizations defending the rights of citizens to legally carry a weapon?