Cautionary Tale: Mother Forced to Plead Guilty to Negligent Firearm Storage In Her Home

Vadnais Heights, MN — Lisa Marie Stowe and her husband Christopher have been through the wringer after a “misunderstanding” with their 13-year-old autistic son at this school blew their life apart over a year ago.

It was reported by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in March of 2018 that the autistic young boy had threatened to kill a classmate.

No details have been released on what was said or why, but the parents have said that the threat was a ‘misunderstanding, harmless, and exaggerated.’

The school investigated the report but didn’t find the threat credible and considered the incident closed.

But an unsatisfied parent called the police to report the autistic boy’s comments and prompted an investigation.

Authorities executed a search warrant on March 2nd, 2018, during which they found several dozen guns and over a thousand rounds of ammunition.

Immediately, both police and the media reporting the event painted this couple as terrible, dangerous people.

The Ramsey County Sheriff Jack Serier asserted, “We had a potential tragedy averted from our community today.”

Both parents and their 13-year-old son were arrested.

The media referred to their gun collection as an arsenal and interviewed unnamed neighbors who were “shocked” that this kind of people lived in their quiet neighborhood.

The sheriff’s office further inflated the story, reporting that they had found a short-barreled shotgun and a machine gun in the home.

Both the short-barreled shotgun and the machine gun turned out to be nothing but rumors.

Apparently, the police couldn’t tell a rifle from a machine gun and didn’t have a tape measure handy to verify the length of the shotgun before telling the media about it.

In the meantime, several of the Stowe family’s neighbors came out saying that Christopher Stowe had been nothing but friendly and kind to them.

He had changed a flat tire for one neighbor and had helped another neighbor take down a dead tree in his yard.

Lisa was often seen playing softball in the front yard with their daughter.

But the media and the overreaching police department tried to paint this family as dangerous to their community.

Eventually, the felony charges against Christopher Stowe were dropped when it was established that there was no short-barreled shotgun or machine gun.

On Wednesday, August 5th, 2019, Lisa Marie Stowe plead guilty to a gross misdemeanor charge of negligent storage of a gun.

It will be expunged from her record within two years, provided she meets the requirements of her plea deal, including forfeiting five guns and 50 rounds of ammunition.

But just because the Stowe family’s ordeal is nearly over doesn’t mean that this patriotic American family’s rights weren’t seriously abused.

Even the mayor of Vadnais Heights, MN criticized how the police department and media handled the family’s case:

“From 4:36 p.m. until 10 p.m., the Vadnais Heights City Council thought we had a terrorist cell in our city based on the hype created by the sheriff’s department,” said Mayor Bob Fletcher.

Mayor Fletcher isn’t just a mayor who wants his town to have a perfect image; he was the sheriff of the same county from 1995 to 2001.

The Stowe family’s lawyer, Bruce Rivers, pointed out that the search warrant should never have been issued as there was no legitimate suspicion of a crime.

Because the warrant was obtained without probable cause, any resulting charges should have been tossed out.

“This is the problem, you have hysteria surrounding a major event like Parkland and that’s what this was. This was better safe than sorry, let’s trample on their rights,” Rivers said.

This is the climate that Fake News media has made: gun owners are considered dangerous criminals simply for legally owning guns.

Otherwise decent police departments want to look proactive and tough on crime, so they’re quick to claim a victory when they can.

But those two things worked together to destroy this family’s reputation, which cannot be repaired.

They have no doubt lost many thousands of dollars in court costs, lost work for hearings, etc.

In an interview, Christopher Stowe’s father said that his son and daughter-in-law both had extensive gun training, had their concealed carry permits in order, and trained frequently.

He went on to share that his son’s gun collection contained four generations of Stowe family history.

The Stowe family has fought for America in wars dating back centuries.

Their family’s gun collection is currently being held as evidence.

They’re waiting to see if they’ll ever get it back.