Brian Aitken, once the focus of a gun-law dispute, faces attempted-murder charge
A former Mount Laurel man, once at the center of a gun-law controversy in New Jersey, is accused of attempted murder in Colorado.
Brian D. Aitken, 38, was charged Friday after a shooting incident in the resort town of Telluride, according to the San Miguel County Sheriff's Office. The charge is only an allegation and Aitken has not been convicted in the case.
The Sheriff's Office It referred questions from the media to the Telluride Marshal's Office, which did not respond to a request for additional information on Saturday.
Telluride is in a scenic area of southwestern Colorado, about 300 miles from Denver.
Aitken, an entrepreneur and digital-advertising executive, became a symbol of injustice for gun-rights advocates after his arrest for a weapons offense in Mount Laurel in January 2009.
The arrest came after police, acting on a concern for his well-being by Aitken's mother, found three unloaded guns in a vehicle packed with the man's possessions.
A court ruling in the case noted Mount Laurel police considered Aitken, who was involved in a parenting dispute with his son's mother, was "possibly suicidal."
Aitken had purchased the guns legally in Colorado, but lacked a permit to carry them in New Jersey.
Aitken received a seven-year prison term in December 2010 for unlawful possession of a weapon and other offenses.
Then-Gov. Chris Christie commuted the sentence in December 2010 after Aitken had served almost four months in state prison.
Aitken's release came after more than 15,000 people had demanded his freedom on a Facebook page petition.
An appeals court in March 2012 overturned Aitken's convictions convictions for unlawfully possessing a weapon and a large-capacity ammunition magazine. It ruled Aitken should have been exempt from prosecution on those charges because he was moving from Colorado to South Jersey when the arrest occurred.
The decision upheld a conviction for possession of prohibited ammunition.
Christie pardoned Aitken for the ammunition offense in January 2018.
At the time of the pardon, Aitken said he was "so happy to finally put this chapter behind me."
Aitken later wrote a book about his experience, "The Blue Tent Sky: How the Left's War on Guns Cost Me My Son and My Freedom."
Aitken's LinkedIn page identifies him as the CEO of Topple, a digital-advertising service that he founded in Telluride in December 2020. Topple serves advertisers who have been subject to "censoring, de-platforming, shadow banning, de-monetizing, and black-listing" by "Big Tech," the LinkedIn page says.
A Topple representative did not respond to a request for comment.
Jim Walsh covers public safety, economic development and other beats for the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal.
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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Brian Aitken, pardoned by Christie in 2018, accused of Colorado shooting
