Category: New Jersey

Technically, the law for New Jersey says that the police have 30 days to issue an FID or Pistol Purchase Permit unless they have good cause to deny it.  In theory, they are supposed to be shall issue.  In practice, they are no such thing, because the courts refuse to enforce the law. Only in New Jersey would the courts rule that 30 days doesn’t mean 30 days.  It can take more than a year to get an FID card in New Jersey in some jurisdictions.

We have yet another news story from New Jersey, taken to task by Armed and Safe, selling the .50 caliber ban as an enhancement of gun rights, because it would allow reenactors to carry large caliber muskets, which are now illegal in New Jersey.

Sorry no.  An enhancement would just be repealing the ban on large bore muskets, which is stupid to begin with.  An enhancement doesn’t involve trading one stupid gun ban for another stupid gun ban.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, who’s editorial staff know nothing about guns aside from what Bryan Miller tells them, and who don’t seem interested in learning, think it’s high time Pennsylvania jumped on board the gun rationing bandwagon:

As soon as next month, the state Senate could vote on a measure approved by the state Assembly that would impose a one-handgun-per-month limit. At the same time, the Assembly’s calendar contains another smart gun-safety measure that would ban .50-caliber sniper rifles capable of targeting a plane.

It is ridiculous to believe that criminals in New Jersey are submitting themselves to extreme scrutiny by the police to get purchase permits in order to feloniously sell their purchase to criminals.  It’s even more ridiculous to think that someone with a 24lb rifle could successfully shoot down a plane.  The Inky should send one of their reporters to a range to shoot, and it could be shown that even some .22 caliber rounds easily penetrate aircraft aluminum.  All a .50 does is make a bigger hole.  That’s it.  The serious anti-material and armor piercing rounds are not available to civilians.

That effort deserves the full support of lawmakers from South Jersey, including Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester). But Sweeney is not yet on board with the proposal, and seems to be quoting from the NRA’s bullet points about the need to enforce existing gun regulations more fully.

My hat is off to you Stephen Sweeney, for realizing what the real solution is to criminal gun use.  Everyone should contact Senator Sweeney here, and thank him for not supporting this nonsense.

In stark contrast to New Jersey, the rules for handgun purchases in the Keystone State are shockingly lax. As such, handgun trafficking is more widespread, since it’s so much easier for straw buyers to acquire weapons. That’s why many of Philadelphia’s toughest neighborhood streets are awash in illegal handguns.

Except it’s a felony to illegally transfer a handgun in Pennsylvania without going through an FFL and passing a background check.  Anyone who seriously checks into Pennsylvania’s gun laws cannot conclude they are lax.  The Inquirer editorial staff want you to take their word on that.  To them, apparently lax is being able to go to a gun shop and buy a gun.

For a state that has such widespread gun trafficking, and such lax gun laws, we seem to have a violent crime rate that’s awfully close to New Jersey’s.  New Jersey’s violent crime rate is actually remarkably high for a state that has no major cities.

The Philadelphia Inquirer is running a puff piece on it today, with Bryan Miller’s big mug plastered all over it.  We’re also back to that “personal privilege” thing again:

“What we’re talking about here is some sort of balance . . . between the privilege of a tiny minority of handgun owners in the state and the common good of public safety,” Miller said. “We’re talking about a light burden, if any.”

Sorry Bryan.  Heller is over, and we won.  It’s not a privilege anymore.  That means the burden is now on you to justify restricting my constitutional right.  If you can provide any evidence at all that one-gun-a-month works, I’d be happy to listen, but the evience seems to suggest it has no effect on crime, just like every other gun control law.  Governor Corzine also asks the wrong question:

“How many guns does somebody need to purchase in a month?” Corzine asked.

I don’t have to justify anything to you, Governor.  Your job is not to treat all citizens as criminals because some people are irresponsible.  The solution is to put violent people in prison, rather than to turn the society at large into a prison.  This proposal does the latter.

Cemetery finds some more PSH from the media over in New Jersey on .50 caliber rifles.

UPDATE: Looks like they are increasing the penalties for machine gun posesssion too.  If at first you don’t succeed, try again, this time with more enthusiasm!

NRA reports that the New Jersey one-gun-a-month bill was indeed pulled from a floor vote.  It will remain a pending bill in the legislature for the next thirteen months remaining in the term, and could have a floor vote at any time.  But NRA does mention:

While this legislation will remain in a position to be posted for a vote by the full Senate for the rest of the 13 months remaining in the term, this development can only indicate a softening of support for this dangerous bill.  Overwhelming effort on the part of the grassroots networks of a variety of gun rights groups in New Jersey must be credited with this apparent reversal of fortune for the anti-gun crowd.

There are people who deserve credit for this.  Scott Bach, who is an NRA Board Member and President of the Association of New Jersey Rifle Pistol Clubs, Andrew Jennison, who is the NRA state liaison for New Jersey, and probably more than a few other people who I’m overlooking.  But really, none of these people are scary to politicians without grass roots who are involved and engaged.

This is a minor, and possibly short lived victory, but it wasn’t too long ago the anti-gun forces in New Jersey could steamroll us whenever they wanted to.  That might be changing, but we must keep up the fight.