When we last visited the hapless Gosselins (and who knew we would ever make a return visit?), Kate was undergoing a life-transforming experience by wearing a pink cowboy hat, riding a horse named Banjo and getting an introduction to shooting guns. Jon, meanwhile, was in drag.
This time, it's legally-embattled Jon's turn to man the guns, and it looks like it's gotten him into hot water, per MyFoxPhilly.com's "Judge Bars Guns At Jon Gosselin House":
Judge Arthur Tilson issued the court order Thursday in Norristown, Pa., after Jon Gosselin was photographed on Wednesday in Wernersville, Pa., shooting a .38 pistol on his property.
The judge also ordered Gosselin to register his pistol at a new address in Pennsylvania within 90 days.
Here's the thing--or rather, several things:
The headline would have us believe all guns are now banned at the house by all people. I suspect the order does not include Kate or anyone else, but couldn't tell based on how this is being reported.
Per NRA-ILA state gun laws, there is no requirement to register handguns in Pennsylvania.
If Gosselin divorce proceedings had resulted in a restraining order against him, Jon would not be allowed to possess a gun and the judge would have issued a very different order.
Wernerville PA is a rural area. Restrictions, in terms of noise ordinances, requiring shooters to be a minimum distance from structures, etc., are up to local government.
So I went to the Berks County website, and could find nothing of relevance there. I called the Berks County Sheriff and they told me to call the township. Wernersville, I was informed, is part of Lower Heidelberg. The lady there told me their ordinances are not online and she does not know, and referred me to the police. I spoke to a real nice sergeant there who has not heard anything about this story, but nonetheless informed me shooting occurs all the time during various hunting seasons, and he was unaware of any ordinance prohibiting it.
Which left me one call to make--Judge Tilson's office, to ask what rationale or law authorized the order. I told the lady who answered the phone who I was and why I was calling, and she replied (drumroll):
"I'm sorry, I do not wish to comment on it."
So what other reasons could there be? There's no evidence he made any threats--if he had, we'd be looking at a different headline. Safety? The only thing evident in terms of unsafe gun handling practices is I don't see where Jon is using ear or eye protection. It hardly seems a gun ban order or a registration order are warranted (how would one go about complying with the latter, by the way?).
The only thing that's obvious about this story is we really have no idea what is going on.
Which seems the perfect segue into noting Celebuzz is so indignant, they're asking their readers "Should Jon be allowed to own (or even touch) a gun?"
Nothing like having our rights defined by the least informed/most trivial-minded among us...which is typically the way it works, especially when "Authorized Journalists" are trusted to report on guns.
