Sheepshead Man Starts Armed Rebellion – Kinda


by on Jul 30th, 2009

Things get weirder by the day in NYC politics, and now it has taken a turn to the utterly bizarre.

A Sheepshead resident is calling Mayor Bloomberg a tyrant following the actions of hizzonah’s Royal Guard (a.k.a. the NYPD), who have been trying to seize the man’s antique rifle. Michael Littlejohn, a Colonial American reenactor, had a replica Revolutionary War-era flint-lock rifle custom-made by a Tennessee-based blacksmighth. The only problem is, he didn’t have a gun permit. Now he’s threatening to sue the city for taking the fight too far. Here’s an excerpt from an article in the Daily News:

“This is the last legal gun that you can have without registration in New York,” Littlejohn said. “And yet Mayor Bloomberg is driven crazy by my flintlock gun – the one that won the American Revolution.”

Littlejohn fired the first shot when he hired a Tennessee blacksmith to recreate the vintage rifle. It arrived at his Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, apartment in June – followed quickly by city cops.

Police claim it’s illegal for Littlejohn to keep the flintlock without a gun license.

Littlejohn, 50, cites the earliest American patriots as his inspiration while refusing to surrender his firearm or apply for a license.

The social worker is also clinging to a little-known exemption in the city’s strict gun laws.

The loophole allows license-free ownership of “antique firearms” – defined as rifles that require the bullet and gunpowder to be loaded separately.

Littlejohn’s rifle appears to fit the bill.

Loading the weapon, he explains, is a multistep process that takes several pokes with a ramrod and up to a minute to complete.

To fire, the rifle relies on a sharpened piece of flint that produces a spark when the trigger is pulled. That point is moot, Littlejohn says: He doesn’t own gunpowder or bullets.

That’s not enough to make the NYPD retreat.

The cops visited Littlejohn’s apartment and sat down this month with the Tennessee blacksmith who forged the rifle.

The lead detective on the case told Littlejohn’s lawyer that he had orders “from higher-ups” to pursue the case, according to an e-mail the lawyer sent to Littlejohn.

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  • Jim

    I think the case against Mr. Littlejohn is silly, but he may not have a point in law. An “antique” is an item that is at least 100 years old. A recreation is just that. It is not antique or vintage, it is just a new item. I wish him luck, but his position is questionable.

  • Jim

    I think the case against Mr. Littlejohn is silly, but he may not have a point in law. An “antique” is an item that is at least 100 years old. A recreation is just that. It is not antique or vintage, it is just a new item. I wish him luck, but his position is questionable.

  • Anthony

    Well, my comment WAS going to say that Littlejohn should be left alone since his rifle fit the bill of “requiring the bullet and gunpowder to be loaded separately.” Then I read Jim’s comment and I had to think twice about this. It seems that the definition of “Antique” will be the real issue. According to Jim, an item’s age is what qualifies it as an antique and there’s no way that something that was just custom built for Littlejohn is going to qualify as old. He’s gonna need a good lawyer to exploit that loophole in the gun law.

  • Anthony

    Well, my comment WAS going to say that Littlejohn should be left alone since his rifle fit the bill of “requiring the bullet and gunpowder to be loaded separately.” Then I read Jim’s comment and I had to think twice about this. It seems that the definition of “Antique” will be the real issue. According to Jim, an item’s age is what qualifies it as an antique and there’s no way that something that was just custom built for Littlejohn is going to qualify as old. He’s gonna need a good lawyer to exploit that loophole in the gun law.

  • baete

    The exemption in NYC code includes replicas of antique guns.

  • baete

    The exemption in NYC code includes replicas of antique guns.

  • Rapheal

    While I side with him on the issue that he does legally own the gun, I do know this guy and he is mentally ill. Very violent background. The article doesnt investigate that issue. I doubt he will use that gun to kill anyone but the police will have a case against him owning any gun if they could check his record against what his (several) psychiatrists found out about him.