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You might recall the controversy surrounding the photograph posted on Facebook back in March of a boy showing off his new rifle.
In the photograph, at the left, you can see a smiling Josh Moore of Carneys Point, New Jersey, all decked out in camouflage fatigues holding his 11th birthday present: a Smith & Wesson M&P15 .22 caliber rifle.
Someone from Facebook ended up calling the state’s anonymous child abuse hotline and New Jersey police along with the Department of Children and Families raided his home, demanding to see all his firearms.
Josh’s father, Shawn Moore, an NRA certified firearms instructor and range safety officer, as well as New Jersey hunter education instructor, immediately called his attorney, Evan Nappen, and placed him on speaker phone. Shawn had the following to say about those events on a Delaware gun forum:
“I walk in my house and hand the phone to the first cop I see. Then direct all of em outside… They wanted to look around and check all my guns out, make sure they were all registered. Obviously that didn’t go well because I refused. I had Nappen on speaker phone the entire time so they had to deal with both of us. They kept trying to pressure me to open my safe. They had no warrant, no charges, nothing. I didn’t budge. I was told I was being “unreasonable” and that I was acting suspicious because I wouldn’t open my safe…. Nappen asked me for the [Division of Youth and Family Services] worker’s name. she wouldnt give it. I asked for credentials and she wouldnt show em. I tried to take a pic of her and she turned around real fast and walked away. After a while of them threatening to take my kids, get warrants and intimidation they left. Empty handed and seeing nothing.”
“I don’t like what happened,” Moore told the AP. “You’re not even safe in your own house. If they can just show up at any time and make you open safes and go through your house, that’s not freedom; it’s like tyranny.”
Charges were never filed and the Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, has asked his Attorney General to look into the conduct of authories, noting that new reports raised “troubling questions” about how the case was handled.
According to the Associated Press:
In a March 22 letter, the governor asked Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa to determine “whether all applicable laws were appropriately followed, and to take any remedial, investigative or other actions that may be required.”
“The public reports of this matter raise troubling questions concerning the facts and circumstances surrounding the investigation, the manner in which the investigation was conducted, and the procedures followed by law enforcement and the Division of Child Protection and Permanency.”
The NRA has also entered the controversy, publishing the following Special Report: Facebook Photo Fiasco by their investigative journalist Ginny Simone:
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