LinkedIn Photo of a Gun Enough to “Trigger” British Police

The IT consultant endured a 13-week ordeal including multiple arrests and police visits | LINKEDIN / JON RICHELIEU-BOOTH

​Jon Richelieu-Booth, 50, an IT consultant from West Yorkshire, returned home from a trip to Florida with a few harmless souvenirs that included snapshots taken by friends of him shooting what appeared to be semi-automatic shotguns.
 
Richelieu-Booth posted the images on LinkedIn with some routine notes about his work and travel.
 
In the United States, where firing guns on private property is legal, such a post would attract little attention beyond a few “likes.” But this is the UK, where an Irish comedian was arrested this summer for a tasteless joke. So it didn’t take long for West Yorkshire police to show up at Richelieu-Booth’s home. The officers declined to examine evidence that the pictures were taken in Florida; perhaps the semi-tropical foliage and algae-scummed pond in the background were proof enough.
 
Under the UK’s increasingly Orwellian speech laws, however, well enough is rarely left alone.
 
The police returned a few weeks later to arrest Richelieu-Booth. He was held overnight before being released on bail. His phones and digital devices were confiscated, effectively destroying his business and livelihood and launching what he described as “13 weeks of hell.” Officers visited Richelieu-Booth at home three more times before the Crown Prosecutor Service ultimately dropped all charges.
 
“And this is why we have the first and second amendments in America,” Elon Musk posted on X.
 
Reform Party UK leader Nigel Farage has urged Americans to be vigilant lest the speech police take root here. Once again, we should be grateful for our Constitution’s protections against state overreach.

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