Gov. Christie pardons NJ gun owner

A North Brunswick man says he got his life back after Gov. Chris Christie pardoned him. Steffon Josey was employed as an armed guard with an armored truck company when he accidently left his gun in the

News 12 Staff

Jun 11, 2015, 5:09 AM

Updated 3,486 days ago

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A North Brunswick man says he got his life back after Gov. Chris Christie pardoned him.
Steffon Josey was employed as an armed guard with an armored truck company when he accidently left his gun in the glove box of his car.
Josey says he hastily hid the weapon in the glove box when his little sister walked into his garage one morning in September 2013. He did not want her to see it, and then he forgot he put it in there.
Later that day, Josey was pulled over by a Highland Park police officer for an expired car registration. When getting out his paperwork, he realized his gun was still there.
"I immediately told the officer that I had a firearm," Josey says. "They just gave me a ticket for my registration. They let me go, and they said I can come back on Monday to claim the firearm, and when I did, that's when they placed me under arrest for unlawful possession of a firearm."
Under New Jersey gun law, even a legally owned weapon must be transported unloaded in the trunk.
Josey, who wanted to be a police officer, lost his job as an armor truck security guard after he took a plea deal to avoid prison. As a convicted felon, he also lost the chance to become a cop.
"Over a simple mistake, my life was just snatched away from me and it was just like I was a criminal," Josey says.
Josey was determined to get his life back and worked with the same Second Amendment lawyer who helped Shaneen Allen.
Allen, from Philadelphia, had a permit to carry in Pennsylvania but became a victim of New Jersey gun laws when she was pulled over in New Jersey where her permit was not valid.
The governor pardoned Allen in April and Josey this past Monday.
Now with a clean slate, Josey hopes to one day become a New Jersey police officer.