Corzine is attempting to make guns a big issue in this election, and in that vain, there’s going to be a vote today on one-gun-a-month. NRA is urging people to contact their Senators today. Scott Bach is also calling Corzine out for trying to distract voters from his horrible mismanagement of the state.
Here’s my analysis of the game that Corzine is playing. Gun politics in New Jersey is difficult. The vast majority of the state are not gun owners, and have no familiarity with them. Figures on household gun ownership are as low as 14%, whereas the rest of the country hovers closer to 40%. Politicians that court the gun vote in the Garden State have to be careful not to come off as radical to the rest of the state. It’s a fine balancing act that’s hard to manage, and Corzine is hoping to push Christie off the balance beam.
The last thing Corzine wants is for Christie to be able to count on the gun vote in the election. By forcing a vote on one-gun-a-month, he’s going to try to force Christie to take a stand on it. Take a stand against it, and the majority of New Jersians who are not gun owners will think he’s a radical conservative. Take a stand in favor of it, you can count on gun owners to stay home on election day. What New Jersey gun owners can do is help give their local politicians, and Chris Christie, some cover to either take the issue head on, or at least dodge it. Send letters to the editor. Talk about how Corzine is using this silly gun issue to distract from his mismanagement of the state’s finances. Call your state rep and Senators and tell them the same thing. Tell them not to play along with the governor’s beating up on gun owners, and to get back to fixing the state’s finances. The only way gun owners are going to keep Christie on the reservation is to give him some cover. Corzine is showing he’s going to make guns an issue in this election, and it is imperative to make sure it’s Corzine, and not Christie, who ends up on the wrong side of the issue.
***Christie to be able to count on the gun vote in the election. By forcing a vote on one-gun-a-month, he’s going to try to force Christie to take a stand on it. Take a stand against it, and the majority of New Jersians who are not gun owners will think he’s a radical conservative. Take a stand in favor of it, you can count on gun owners to stay home on election day***
Bingo!!!!!!!
Give the man a Cigar, or a BBQ smoker in this case.
Glad I don’t live in NJ! Sounds like felon-heaven with so few guns in the hands of the law-abiding.
Still, I think I’d meet the issue head-on if I were Chris. Vote against the restriction on the basis of an appeal to liberty, freedom of choice (pro-choice?), and/or citizen rights. That’s not gun-nutty; that’s trusting the citizens who vote for me. Let the voters know you think Government has no more business being in their gun cabinet than it does in their bedroom (or a mother’s womb – that would appeal to the liberals). But take a stand. He will have to someday, certainly in debate.
Still, I think I’d meet the issue head-on if I were Chris. Vote against the restriction on the basis of an appeal to liberty, freedom of choice (pro-choice?), and/or citizen rights.
If he does that, he’ll risk losing. New Jerseyans, by in large, don’t view a connection between guns and liberty. When you’re 14% of the population, you can only ask for so much. The best they will hope to get out of Chris Christie is to have someone in the Governor’s mansion who doesn’t beat them up when it’s politically expedient.
Gun owners in New Jersey are currently in an abusive relationship with their current governor. Step one is to get out of that. Chris Christie aint’ true love. Far from it, in fact. But in order to get away from the abuser, you have to convince the 86% of the population who doesn’t own and who are largely not familiar with guns to go along with you. They won’t see that guns=freedom. Most of them don’t think about guns, and there are enough people that think guns=crime to cause problems.
The state’s overwhelming Democratic majority and their hatred of guns are two of the things I hate most about NJ. I’m not a native and don’t plan to stay here a day longer than financially necessary.
On the other hand, it is nice to know that I’ve got at least 86% of the population out gunned if the Apocalypse begins. Between the National Guard and the gun club, I know many of the remaining 14%. So I got that going for me.