Category: New Jersey

Bryan Miller is no doubt proud of his latest legislative accomplishments and is wondering how anyone could oppose him and still be a reasonable person. I suppose I will play the part of unreasonable person here, and take apart these bills. I’ll leave it to the reader to decide whether I’m reasonable:

S-2431/A-3035 increases the penalty for being caught in public with an illegal firearm to a 2nd degree crime. Until now first offenders enjoyed a presumption against incarceration. This measure removes that presumption. Offenders now face likely incarceration, fitting in a time when the state faces a rising tide of gun violence from the use of illegal handguns.

If I were to take a shotgun into New Jersey to shoot some clays, if I am not in possession of a valid FID card, that is an illegal shotgun. If I stop at a Donkin Donuts drive-through for a cup of coffee, I am now in possession of an “illegal firearm” and will go to prison in New Jersey for many years. Bryan wants you to think of gang members toting around their Gatts. New Jersey law is far far broader than that, and it’s easy for normally law abiding people to run afoul of New Jersey’s monstrously complicated and overly broad laws. My policy was, and still is, not to take any firearms into New Jersey. I make my Jersey friends come to Pennsylvania if they want to shoot. It’s too easy to get in trouble in New Jersey if you’re caught with a gun, even if you have them for sporting purposes.

S-2934/A-4620 imposes stepped fines on gun owners who fail to report lost or stolen firearms to law enforcement. On its face, this measure is the height of sense. Wouldn’t police want to know of guns floating around, potentially in the wrong hands? Plus, this law is a likely barrier to ‘straw purchasing,’ the linchpin of illegal handgun trafficking.

Straw purchasing is already both a federal and state crime. “It was stolen” is not an absolute defense to the charge. What Bryan was looking for with this is to make another law with which to charge them with because the state would be unable meet its burden that all the elements of a straw purchase had taken place. The problem with this law is that, people do get guns stolen. Originally the bill required immediate reporting, not reporting within a time period after discovery. The original penalties were also a lot more server. My problem with these Lost and Stolen reporting requirements is that they’ll disproportionately be used to jail poor gun owners in urban areas who might keep a firearm for self-protection, but aren’t that aware of the laws, and don’t have insurance issues to worry about. I’ll give Bryan one thing, this law, when considered with all of New Jersey’s other laws that are easy to unknowingly violate, doesn’t add much to the crap pile for gun owners in the Garden State.

S-2470/A-2602 requires that, with a very minor exception, purchasers of handgun ammunition show proof that they have passed our state’s rigorous firearm background check before being allowed to buy handgun ammunition. This new law is intended to prevent the sale of handgun ammo to folks who intend to use it for ill. There has been much evidence in recent years of gang members buying handgun ammo at sporting goods stores (many of which do not sell handguns). This legislation will make it more difficult for them to do so.

So gang members are going to just go “Dang, well, I can’t buy ammo anymore. I guess next time I’ll just throw the gun at the rival drug dealer who wants to kill me” Or are they going to smuggle it through illegal channels just like they currently do with guns? It’s already illegal for gang members to possess ammunition.  What makes Bryan think the restrictions on ammunition are going to be any more effective than the restrictions on firearms are?  This law isn’t going to deter criminals from getting the tools of their trade, but it is going to make it harder for New Jersey gun owners to buy ammunition.

This is only a start. We can expect the new Legislature, seated last week, to consider further measures to enhance public safety, including a bill to limit individuals to the purchase of no more than a single handgun in any thirty-day period (up to twelve per year), a bill to ban civilian ownership of massively destructive .50 Caliber weapons and a bill to require all new handguns purchased to include microstamping technology to aid law enforcers in tracing crime guns and solving crime. Watch this space for more news on upcoming legislation.

Whatever bills they pass will never be enough folks. Worthwhile to remember that their previous 50 caliber ban would have also banned a lot of muzzleloaders, just for you hunters out there that think they are never coming for your deer rifle. They will try if they can get away with it.

The gun bills passed in New Jersey, unfortunately.  But ANJRPC and NRA worked very hard to make them less awful then they were in the original version.  That’s probably the best that can be hoped for in New Jersey.   I’m hearing Corzine signed it.

Armed and Safe doesn’t like the legislation either, but mentioned one thing I wanted to talk about:

The amendments also remove language specifying that the legal owner of a lost or stolen firearm who complied with the reporting requirements would not be civilly liable for any damages resulting from a crime.

Yep–the bill initially contained language that would protect the owner from liability stemming from his being the victim of a crime, but the legislators, in their infinite wisdom, removed that provision.

That’s actually a bit we wanted them to remove. Currently there is no tort that exists for a person being held responsible for the criminal misuse of property that was stolen from them. By removing liability on the part of a gun owner who reported a lost or stolen firearm, the legislature would have been implying a tort did exist for those gun owners who failed to report a lost of stolen firearm under this statue. Therefore a gun owner in violation could not have only been fined, but also could be sued by the victims.

The vote is today.  Call your senators and ask them to oppose this legislation.

Looks like those bills are passing. Here’s how they think of honest gun owners in The Garden State:

Failing to report a loss or theft could result in fines of $500 for a first offense and $1,000 for all subsequent offenses.

Assemblyman Louis Manzo, D-Hudson, said the intent is to force straw purchasers to either risk large fines and exposure to lawsuits or report to law enforcement they’re losing handguns in bulk.

“Taken alone, as they would be for an honest firearms owner, the fines are not financially devastating. But for straw purchasers, who would have to report 10, 20 or even 50 guns at or near the same time, problems quickly start to arise,” Manzo said.

Yeah, I mean, it’s only a few thousand dollars for you honest gun owners who get a gun stolen but don’t know about New Jersey’s onerous reporting requirement. It’s not a big deal right? Not to mention the humiliation of being put through the ringer by the legal system. Louis Manzo can go to hell.

I do want to make a point that a lot of folks over in New Jersey, particularly Scott Bach of the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, have worked very hard to try to defeat these bills. It’s worth pointing out that the bills that eventually passed are far less bad than they would have been had it not been for the efforts of ANJRPC. Why don’t you drop Scott a note and thank him for the effort he’s put into this. It’s New Jersey, so we won’t always win, but we have to fight there, and it helps those people who decide to stay and do that on our behalf to know their efforts are appreciated.

The New Jersey Senate votes tomorrow on several important anti-gun bills. It’s important to urge your legislators to vote no.

These bills will be voted on by the Senate tomorrow, Thursday, January 3. Please contact your State Senator today at (609) 292-4840 and respectfully urge him or her to protect the Second Amendment rights of New Jersey’s law-abiding gun owners by opposing S2470, S2934, and S2431.

Also, because you’re bending over so nice for the Senate, the assembly is ready to come in for sloppy seconds, and is scheduled to hold a vote on the judiciary committee on several of the gun bills being voted on by the Senate:

A4620 and A3035 are companion bills to legislation currently being voted on in the State Senate. It is critical that A4640 and A3035 are defeated or, at the very least, amended to match the Senate versions.

Committee Information:
Thursday, January 3, 2008
11:00 AM
Committee Room 12, 4th Floor
State House Annex
Trenton, New Jersey

Assembly Judiciary Committee:

Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein (D-14), Chair
(609) 395-9911
Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-15), Vice-Chair
(609) 292-0500
Assemblyman Christopher Connors (R-9)
(609) 693-6700
Assemblywoman Nellie Pou (D-35)
(973) 247-1555
Assemblywoman Joan Quigley (D-32)
(201) 217-4614
Assemblyman David Russo (R-40)
(201) 444-9719

There are a lot of sportsmen left in New Jersey, and they’ve shown they can affect election outcomes. There’s no reason gun owners have to always lose, even in The Garden State.

Looks like we’ve managed to make a these bills a bit less onerous, but it’s still critical to defeat them.  One thing I’d like to point out:

S2470, sponsored by State Senator Shirley Turner (D-15), as originally written, would have criminalized the transfer of any ammunition to anyone who does not have a valid firearms purchaser identification card, a copy of a permit to purchase a handgun or a valid permit to carry a handgun. While intended to prevent criminals from obtaining ammunition, the legislation would only impact honest gun owners, since criminals are unlikely to purchase ammunition in New Jersey because of the mandatory reporting of all ammunition sales as required by state law. 

Emphasis mine.  Whoever drafted this has my thanks for helping feed the “Pennsylvania is to blame for our gun crime” monster that folks like Bryan Miller like to push.  I doubt there’s a study that shows criminals are buying ammo out of state, so let’s just leave it at “criminals buy much of their ammo on the black market, and New Jersey already has this reporting requirement.”   Those of us in Pennsylvania would appreciate it.

I guess it’s not surprising, but the three bills passed out of the New Jersey senate committee today, and are on their way to a vote on the floor. Interestingly, about 1/4 of the cars in the lot at the very crowded Valley Forge Gun Show had Jersey tags. There is a gun culture in New Jersey. There aren’t many anti-gun people, really. There’s no reason New Jersey shouldn’t be in play for the pro-gun side. It’s really disappointing.

UPDATE: Looks like the floor vote will be January 3rd.  Call your senators, New Jersey folks!