A misunderstanding caused by a language barrier in Fort Lee, N.J., in April led to a lawful citizen’s firearms being confiscated. And two gun-rights organizations are now suing the city police department over the continuing injustice.
According to the New Jersey Firearm Owners Syndicate (NJFOS), after visiting a walk-in medical facility this spring due to pregnancy-related illness, Elsid Aliaj’s wife was wrongfully temporarily committed to a psychiatric facility. During the visit, she made a remark in English, her second language, that caused the provider to incorrectly believe that she might want to harm herself. She was immediately put on a 72-hour mental health evaluation hold to rule out any danger to herself.
In response to that temporary and wholly inappropriate involuntary commitment, the Fort Lee Police Department seized Aliaj’s firearms, NJFOS said in a press release on the matter. Since the unlawful seizure, both FLPD officers and local prosecutors have continued to withhold Aliaj’s firearms with no legal justification, and have since doubled down on their unconstitutional conduct by seeking to revoke his New Jersey Firearms Purchaser Identification Card.
Now months later, Aliaj still hasn’t had his firearms returned. Consequently, on November 3, NJFOS, in partnership with the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), filed the lawsuit Aliaj v. Fort Lee Police Department seeking to have Aliaj’s firearms returned.
“…Defendants have blatantly thumbed their nose at the clear precedent of the Supreme Court of the United States and will continue to do so absent court intervention,” the complaint states. “A governmental entity simply may not prevent a peaceable, law-abiding individual from possessing handguns and other firearms in the home, full stop.”
Adam Kraut, SAF executive director, called the actions by the Fort Lee Police Department and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s office “absolutely unconstitutional.”
“Mr. Aliaj is a peaceable citizen and is not disqualified from owning or possessing firearms, yet the police department and prosecutor’s office continue to infringe on his Second Amendment rights,” Kraut said in an SAF news release. “He has tried going through the proper channels to regain possession of his property since April but continues to be disenfranchised. The only options the prosecutor’s office gave Mr. Aliaj for returning his firearms is to store them outside his home, sell the guns, destroy them or have a hearing to try and return the confiscated items, all of which are a violation of his constitutional rights.”
Speaking for his organization, Joe LoPorto, NJFOS director of legal operations, said filing the lawsuit was necessary to ensure several aspects of freedom in New Jersey.
“We are today sending a clear message that rogue police departments and county prosecutors who violate a multitude of New Jerseyans’ core constitutional rights with no legal authority will not go unchecked,” LoPorto said. “This case is as much about
protecting our members’ 4th and 5th Amendment rights as it is about protecting the right to keep and bear arms.”