I know I have more than a few Jersey readers, who have no doubt been following what’s been going on in Pennsylvania lately. Now its your turn New Jersey. It’s time to put your war face on, storm the capitol, and reclaim the rights that are rightfully yours! Or you could just write your state representative that are listed in the alert. I know, I know. No fun. But we do what we have to.
Category: New Jersey
New Jersey Votes to Abolish Death Penalty
The New Jersey senate voted today to be the first state to abolish the death penalty since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of the death penalty, but I don’t really buy the notion that it doesn’t deter crime. Even if it’s used as a lever to convince criminals to plea in exchange for dropping the death penalty, it has some value. It seems telling that New Jersey will go easy on criminals, while continuing to push for restrictions on the law abiding citizen’s ability to defend themselves, and keep and bear effective tools for doing so.
A Little Second Amendment Wager
I noticed this quite funny comment over on Bryan Miller’s blog:
Dear Mr. Miller:
As you know, the Supreme Court shortly will be making a weighty decision concerning the future of American freedom as it resides within the Second Amendment. I know we are diametrically opposed on this issue. However, the die has been cast and now we as a nation will finally have an answer to a question which both sides have sought for decades.
I have made a layman’s study of arguments from the pro and anti-gun rights perspectives and am firmly convinced that the Court will hold that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right, not one reserved to the state. But what value is rhetoric if not backed up by a concrete demonstration of one’s firm belief?
Thus, my point in posting this message is to challenge you to a friendly personal wager regarding the outcome of the Heller case. If the Supreme Court holds that the Second Amendment does not protect an individual right to keep and bear arms, I will personally present you with a certified check in the amount of $100 payable to your charity of choice. I will do so at a New Jersey place and time of your choosing, and in honor of the nanny state you represent, while wearing a diaper and drinking milk from a baby bottle.
Conversely, if the Supreme Court should hold, what every person who can read plainly the King’s English already knows, that the Second Amendment protects the individual right to keep and bear arms, you will present me with a certified check in the amount of $100 payable to my charity of choice. You will do this at a time and New Jersey place of my choosing while wearing full camouflage and bearing an unloaded New Jersey compliant AR-15 (semi-automatic, no lugs for drive-by bayoneting, no adjustable stock, magazine capacity restricted to 15 rounds, etc.), while keeping your finger off the trigger and muzzle pointed in a safe direction.
The gauntlet has been thrown. Demonstrate the courage of your convictions as I am willing to do and accept this challenge of the ages! This offer expires at 5 PM EST on Friday, December 21, 2007.
Respectfully Submitted in Good Faith and Credit,
Matthew Carmel
mcarmel@constitutionarms.com
I sincerely hope Bryan will take him up on this wager! But my bet is there’s no way he’ll take it.
Blaming Pennsylvania Again
New Jersey is busy exporting criminals to Pennsylvania, so we can shoot them, apparently. In this report they claim criminals are moving here because of our lax gun laws.
In Hudson County, New Jersey, prosecutor Edward DeFazio says there’s one overriding reason the Lehigh Valley sees trouble moving in from the Garden State. DeFazio: “Handguns are much more easily purchased in Pennsylvania than in New Jersey.” Statistics show that the vast majority of gun crimes in New Jersey can be traced back to Pennsylvania purchases. DeFazio says the criminals are getting their guns in Pennsylvania … and now they’re committing crimes in the Keystone State, too.
Except it would seem Pennsylvania is also a more hazardous place to try to terrorize people. There are about 580,000 LTCF holders in Pennsylvania. Had Mr. Pierce been a resident of New Jersey, he’d be the one in the hospital, or worse.
Leaving New Jersey
The Geek seems to be happy to be out of The Garden State, after relaying a story about how the police there are putting cameras in schools. A lot of people seem happy to leave.
Electoral Success in New Jersey
Scott Bach is talking about the results from New Jersey’s election this Tuesday.
And that’s exactly what happened in the 12th district on November 6. Fed up with overzealous legislative attacks, sportsmen and sportswomen turned out in force to register their disapproval with the flip of a voting lever. And register their disapproval they did…
Read the whole thing. This is a very positive development. I might just have to take New Jersey out of the “lost cause” category.
Re-Enacting a Crime in New Jersey
“Technically anyone who carries an operable firearm without a carry permit at re-enactments is in violation of New Jersey gun law,” said Mueller, adding that the Wild West City case “is a perfect example of what could happen. It’s dangerous.”
During a dramatization at the Dodge City theme park on July 7, 2006, a bullet struck re-enactor Scott Harris, 37, in the forehead and caused severe brain damage. Harris is still recuperating from the injury.
It is generally illegal to carry a gun without a permit, although there is a laundry list of exceptions. Historical re-enactments and film, television or theatrical productions are not among those exceptions. Existing law has not been strictly enforced regarding re-enactments and entertainment productions, they said.
New Jersey already closed the “musket loophole” so it’s technically illegal to tool around an old battlefield re-enacting the Battle of Monmouth. Remember that guns are illegal in New Jersey. You can only possess them under certain enumerated exemptions, and re-enacting is not one of them.
“They Will Never Come For My Deer Gun”
We’ve all heard that line from hunting aficionados. We’ve certainly seen groups like American Hunters and Shooters Association claim that we can have “reasonable” gun laws, and it won’t threaten hunting. In the past few weeks we’ve seen examples in the State of California and the State of New Jersey, that show hunters have a lot to fear when their gun rights are infringed.
The State of New Jersey has been eroding gun rights and slowly strangling its shooting culture since 1968. There are still a lot of shooters over in The Garden State, but they have been in the political wilderness since the early 1990s.
The State of New Jersey, under Governor Corzine, has canceled the bear hunt for the past several years, despite serious problems in the Garden State with overpopulation of bears, and increasing bear/human encounters. Now the animal rights groups, such as the Humane Society of the United States, and PETA, want to get the legislature to put animal rights activists on the Fish and Game Council:
Under current law, the council is made up of 11 members appointed by the governor, with stipulations that three of the members must be farmers and six must be nominated by the New Jersey Federation of Sportsmen.
The legislation proposes to reduce the council to seven members, with two appointments reserved for farmers and no appointments reserved for sportsmen. The bill also alters language defining the council’s mission — deleting the goal of “development of fish and game for public recreation and food supply†and instead defining the mission as investigating the use of “non-lethal alternatives for dealing with wildlife conflicts†and exploring “ecotourism†opportunities.
Hunters need to let that sink in real good. Activists in New Jersey destroyed gun rights first. Now they are coming after hunting. Fortunately, hunters staged a successful rally, with about 500 sportsmen, to protest A3275 and S2041.
It’s important to note that the entire New Jersey Assembly is up for election next Tuesday. If you’re in the Garden State, make sure to vote the bozos who are supporting this crap out of office, and vote for the people who are behind sportsmen.
But New Jersey hunters aren’t alone in their struggle. Everyone knows that Arnold signed the lead ammo ban in California Condor habitat, which effectively ends hunting in large swaths of California. Now it turns out they are trying to push that in Arizona as well. I doubt they will find so hearty a reception to that idea in the Grand Canyon State as in California, but it’s important to note that they eroded gun rights in California before the foundation was set for going after hunters.
I’m hoping this presents a good case for the reason that hunters and shooters need to stick together. Our fates are inexorably intertwined. Let’s hang together… I think everyone is aware of the alternative at this point.
Gerry Cardinale
To be honest, I had never heard of Gerry Cardinale, because I don’t honestly follow New Jersey politics that closely. But it turns out, as New Jersey politicians go, he would appear to be an OK guy.
Henry Repeating Arms Relocates
Henry Repeating Arms Company, unbeknown to me, was located in Brooklyn.  Apparently they are moving to New Jersey.  I guess a bit of a step up in the gun rights world, but it makes you wonder why they didn’t go a little farther to Pennsylvania. Our taxes are lower than New Jersey’s, and there’s little danger of the state outlawing their product.