(featured image by Rally for our Rights)
A 57-year old New Jersey man embroiled in a dispute with his former doctor and the doctor’s attorney says he never threatened the pair, and shouldn’t have his firearms taken from him under the state’s red flag Extreme Risk Protection Order law.
Alfred Conti was in court on Thursday challenging the petition that allowed police to confiscate his five legally-owned firearms in September, shortly after New Jersey’s red flag law went into effect. Conti agrees that he’s threatened press attention and litigation against Dr. Matthew Kaufman and attorney James Maggs, but says it’s ridiculous to claim that he ever threatened violence.
Superior Court Judge Paul X. Escandon is presiding over the hearing, which is being closely watched by gun rights advocates. Escandon ultimately will decide if Conti can get his guns back.
Maggs testified in November that he felt threatened by profanity-laced phone calls an agitated Conti made to him after Kaufman refused to see Conti as a patient and sued him over negative reviews that Conti had written about the surgeon.