A Somers man who was determined to find out who was stealing pro-gun signs he had reportedly placed on his lawn is now seeking to sue the town of Somers for violating his free speech rights.
The controversy began when Jon Gibson, who lives on Acacia Drive, placed a hidden camera and caught a Somers police officer removing his "Protect the Second Amendment" sign from his lawn. The story and images have since gone viral on the Internet.
Gibson had set up the hidden camera after three separate signs he had placed were removed. To his surprise, the fourth sign was removed by a police officer on Monday, Sept. 23.
"We were expecting a neighbor," Gibson's lawyer Richard Bombardo told Patch. "We were very, very surprised."
Somers Supervisor Mary Beth Murphy, though, said this was not an issue of free speech or gun rights, but rather an issue of town zoning. She said the sign had been placed on town-owned property and a local town code prohibits signs in the town's right of way – or 15 feet of either side of the road. She confirmed that two of the signs had been removed by a police officer after a neighbor complained.
"A lot of people seem to think the [Somers] police officer went onto his property," Murphy said. "That's not the case. There is a lot of misinformation."
Murphy said Gibson had been previously warned by the town's building inspector Efrem Citarella after a neighbor complained and Gibson was asked to take down the sign. The violation is noted in a letter, dated Aug. 5, 2013.
"It has nothing to do with the content of the sign," Murphy said. "I'm a proponent of the Second Amendment myself. Police went out there as a response to complaints."
Gibson, who was writing on a pro-gun website NYFirearms.com, documented what was going on.
"I got a letter for being in violation of a town code," he wrote on the website.
Gibson said he told the town's building inspector he would fight it in court on the grounds of his First Amendment rights and he was told to leave up the sign.
"A week or so later he called me back because the [expletive] neighbor cried again and I said that I'm leaving it up," Gibson wrote. "A day or so later my sign went missing." The sign vanished a second and third time before Gibson put up the trail camera.
Gibson's lawyer Bombardo told Patch that the Somers police officer could be seen on camera to physically break the sign and "smiling as he is doing" it. He said the town's actions were a violation of Gibson's civil rights.
"It does not give them the right to walk on public property," Bombardo said. "It's his private property."
Bombardo said his client is weighing legal action and would most likely be pursuing charges against the town for trespassing, vandalism and theft.
Murphy said the signs – like any other sign that is picked up – were not destroyed. Rather they are being stored at the Somers Highway Garage where the owner could pick them up.
Editor's Note: The article was originally published on Sept. 26.
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