According to Fox, a Montgomery County judge seems to be taking a stab at creating his own gun registry for reality stars.
A Montgomery County judge issues a court order after Jon Gosselin is seen shooting a loaded gun at his Berks County house.
Judge Arthur Tilson issued the court order Thursday in Norristown, Pa., after Jon Gosselin was photographed on Wednesday in Wernersville, Pa., shooting a .38 pistol on his property.
The judge also ordered Gosselin to register his pistol at a new address in Pennsylvania within 90 days.
Media sites caught Gosselin, 32, carrying the gun and then shooting it on the vast property at the estate owned by Jon and Kate Gosselin.
The problem for Judge Tilson is that registries of gun owners are illegal in Pennsylvania. (Yes, we have the issue with a registry of sales, but that’s not the topic in this case.) One lowly Montgomery County judge cannot singlehandedly create one by court order.
It does not appear that Jon was doing anything illegal or dangerous, as press accounts indicate their property is quite large. And I can attest that the area is quite rural since we drive through Wernersville when visiting Sebastian’s dad. (Fortunately, we have avoided catching sight of Jon, Kate, and all of their 8.)
Unfortunately for Jon, reports indicate that he’s broke and can’t pay an attorney to challenge this judge. However, I can’t really see what force of law the judge would have to enforce an order that’s unconstitutional.
Shooting a loaded gun? How does one shoot an unloaded gun?
Also, notwithstanding the unconstitutionality of the judge’s ruling, I feel like there must be some kind of rule against judges issuing orders that are not possible to obey (like registering your firearm in a registry that does not exist). I bet there’s a Latin phrase that lawyers use for this situation.
I would hope some enterprising reporter would do an investigation into this judge and see what other absurd and possibly illegal orders he has issued. This smacks of a great local investigative reporting opportunity which is the great value of a full-time press.
How exactly would he comply with the order? If there is no registry, how would he “register his gun at a new residence”?
Here in NJ we have a de facto registration because the cops record every firearm sale, but there’s no de jure gun registration requirement. This is usually just an issue if you move to Jersey with guns or inherit them.
But we actually do have a “voluntary gun registration”, proving that there’s no gun control idea too dumb to get traction in New Jersey. Is there anything remotely like this in PA?
Other news articles suggest the original reporter “misinterpreted” teh order – and that MR. Gosselin has just been forbidden from having firearms on the marital property (which is going to her, anyway).