NJ armed security guard with carry permit still faces gun charges

A New Jersey man who works as a security guard and has a permit to carry his registered firearm is facing gun possession charges after being pulled over near his Union County home.

Prosecutors say Roosevelt Twyne, 25, of Roselle, violated the law governing the transport of a firearm regardless of his permission to carry a weapon at his job. His attorney is arguing that Twyne "is a victim of New Jersey’s convoluted laws."

Twyne was stopped in early February by Roselle Park police for his vehicle's tinted windows, according to the Union County Prosecutor’s Office.

Twyne told the officers that he had a firearm for which he had a permit allowing him to carry a weapon only “in the performance of duties during working hours at Brinks," prosecutors said.

The prosecutor's office noted Twyne was not on duty or at Brinks at the time, but was instead traveling home from work in his private vehicle.

While state law allows the transport of a firearm home from a place of employment without a full carry permit, it requires that the firearm must be “unloaded and contained in a closed and fastened case, gunbox, securely tied package, or locked in the trunk of the automobile in which it is being transported,” according to the prosecutor's office.

"Bottom line, whether he carried the gun cased and unloaded or loaded on his side is legally irrelevant to one’s lawful ability to carry with a New Jersey permit to carry a handgun," Twyne's attorney, Evan Nappen said in a written response to New Jersey 101.5.

In this case, the prosecutor's office said the firearm was loaded and in a carrying holster worn by Twyne. Prosecutors also said Twyne admitted "to not transporting the firearm in a legal manner."

Twyne was charged with fourth-degree unlawful transportation of a firearm and released on his own recognizance.

Law enforcement "is attempting to conflate legally irrelevant requirements under exemptions that do not apply to someone who has a NJ Permit to Carry a Handgun," Nappen said.

A charge of possession of hollow-point ammunition would be dismissed from the pending complaint, the prosecutor's office said, as ballistics experts determined that the ammunition carried by Twyne "was not, in fact, illegal under New Jersey law."

Nappen said he was pleased to hear that, calling it a false charge to begin with as the ammo in question is explicitly listed as legal under State Police guidelines.

He said law enforcement was "plainly wrong as to their assertion that Mr. Twyne had to rely upon exemptions to transport his firearm to and from work."

Nappen added by not dismissing all charges against his client, police were trying to turn a law-abiding citizen with a clean record "into a felon overnight."

Twyne has an initial court appearance set for April 2, Nappen said.

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