Adventures in Eastern PA

Inconspicuous vehicle in which guns were found

Okay, so a guy up the other end of the Valley decided to drive to Brooklyn to "extract" a heroin addict who woke up to find her friend dead beside her of an overdose. She texted this guy, who apparently has a an on-line presence as a rescuer of heroin addicts. Ever since his daughter died of an overdose four months ago, he has been making the rounds of town meetings hereabouts speaking up against the heroin epidemic that has come to the Valley -- along with the Bloods' sales force.

Unfortunately, he and his two friends went to make the "extraction" with various weapons in the back of his truck, two of which were loaded. NJ police stopped him at the Holland Tunnel for a cracked windshield and discovered the "cache" (as they put it). NBC reported that they also found drugs in the van, enabling them to insert the requisite amount of irony into the story. Anti-heroin crusader caught with drugs! However, other news sources reported that the drug found was marijuana, and there is no irony in hating heroin and taking the occasional toke. Heck, weed is legal in several states now even though heroin is not. Not in NJ, though; where, as it turns out, it is also illegal to carry loaded weapons in your car. (Unloaded seems to be okay with them.) He was licensed in PA to have them.

A good thing, one supposes, that he did not make it through the tunnel into NYC, where the strictest gun laws keep violent crime to a minimum. It is unclear how he intended to use the weapons to "extract" the poor girl, or even if he did. “Nothing about gun violence or anything about that,” said a friend, "he probably had them in his truck and forgot to take him out of his truck because he gets a call to go help someone and he goes and that's just the way John is.” That would likely freak out folks from New Jersey and NYC even more. He had all those weapons back there and he just plain forgot?

random picture from internet,
not from Higher Ground

Well, the guy does operate an indoor gun range named Higher Ground Tactical, which according to some also serves as a venue for weddings. Now that (if true) is bemusing. 

None of the news stories have mentioned what happened to the girl. Guess they don't care about teen-aged junkies.