Police Come to Iraqi Veteran’s Home, Attempt to Confiscate His Guns, He Tells Them No

Two New Jersey State Troopers showed up at Leonard Cottrell Jr.’s home to confiscate his guns and he told them no.

Cottrell served three tours in Operation Iraqi Freedom and is a disabled vet.

NJ.com reports that the that Troopers came to Cottrell’s house because “his 13-year-old son had [allegedly] made a comment at school about the Millstone Middle School’s security.”

The troopers were attempting to operate under auspices of a new firearm confiscatory law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy (D). The law allows an individual’s guns to be seized if the person is “deemed a threat to themselves and others in the state.” After finding no firearms in the son’s room, they attempted to take Cottrell’s shotgun and pistol. He quickly determined they had no warrant and told them they would not be taking his firearms.

He agreed to store his guns outside his home while his son’s comments are investigated, but that was as far as he would go.

Cottrell noted that the Troopers “danced around the issue” when he confronted them with procedure necessary to confiscate guns under the law.

He said, “No one from the state was going to take my firearms without due process.”

Sgt. First Class Jeff Flynn commented in the incident via email: “Troopers responded to Mr. Cottrell’s residence in reference to the report of a possible school threat. Based on their investigation, it was determined that Mr. Cottrell’s weapons did not need to be seized.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.