Hishahi Pompey was a proud U.S. Marine who served three tours in Afghanistan. In 2011, he was visiting friends in New Jersey from his home in Virginia when they stopped by a nightclub. There, a friend of the uniformed, active-duty sergeant pulled Pompey’s gun from his holster—and Pompey and his friend were promptly arrested.
Pompey was ultimately charged and convicted of felony possession of an unlawful firearm, as he didn’t have a license to carry in New Jersey. And like a long list of gun owners before him, he found himself ensnared in the tentacles of the Garden State’s restrictive gun-ban schemes that don’t recognize permits from any other state.
Sentenced to five years in prison, Pompey was scheduled to begin his term on Monday. But on Friday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie commuted the veteran Marine’s sentence. It remains to be seen whether Christie will also pardon Pompey, as he has done with other innocent victims like Shaneen Allen and Brian Fletcher.
