Staff Reports
A recent case out of New Jersey highlights a troubling example of government overreach threatening the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment. Elced Eliage, a law-abiding citizen, had his firearms forcibly taken after a misunderstanding involving his pregnant wife’s medical evaluation. This incident exposes how easily authorities can weaponize bureaucratic errors to strip citizens of their rights without proper due process.
In April 2025, Eliage’s wife was mistakenly believed to be a danger to herself due to a language barrier during a medical visit. Police were called, leading to her involuntary hospitalization. Though she was quickly cleared and returned home, that same night, police showed up at their residence without a warrant and demanded Eliage surrender his firearms. This action—based solely on his wife’s brief mental health evaluation—deprived Eliage of property and rights without any criminal wrongdoing on his part.
The response from local authorities was equally alarming. The Fort Lee Police Department and Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office refused to return his guns promptly and offered only options like storing, selling, or destroying the firearms or enduring a drawn-out hearing process. This blatant disregard for Eliage’s constitutional rights reflects a disturbing trend where government officials circumvent due process under the guise of public safety, punishing innocent gun owners on flimsy grounds.
Eliage’s fight, supported by the Second Amendment Foundation, challenges the dangerous precedent that one person’s mental health issue can be used to infringe on another’s rights. This case raises critical questions about guilt by association and the expansion of government power to penalize citizens indirectly. Allowing this logic to stand could pave the way for any individual’s rights to be curtailed because of a relative’s or spouse’s circumstances, a slippery slope that undermines individual liberty.
At its core, this case is about much more than one man’s fight to get his guns back; it is a battle for the protection of constitutional freedoms against bureaucratic overreach. The government must be held accountable for infringing on the right to keep and bear arms without probable cause or due process. Eliage’s stand sends a vital message to all Americans: the defense of our Second Amendment rights demands vigilance, unity, and a refusal to tolerate overreaching policies aimed at disarming law-abiding citizens under questionable pretenses.
