New Jersey Assemblywoman Joan Quigley asked the question:
I introduced that bill in the spring of 2006. If it had actually become law on the day it was introduced, Mr. Braico would have been able to accumulate 33 handguns between then and now. I fail to see how that’s an unreasonable restriction on his civil rights. And I do wonder what he might have done with all those deadly weapons.
An intrepid gun owner in The Garden State provides her with an answer:
When I first bought my XD-40 handgun, it was quite a large caliber, and so expensive to use for target practice. As my self-defense instructor told me, a large caliber is necessary for “stopping power” in self-defense situations. However, I immediately bought a smaller, inexpensive weapon – a .22-caliber Browning Buckmark – for target practice, just to save money. There, already, were two guns in one month.
However, both of those guns were too large for my wife to operate, so we bought a Lady Smith revolver, which is specially designed for the smaller hands of a woman. At that time, we discovered that the XD-40 jams quite a lot (a design flaw, I believe, but certainly a problem in a self-defense situation), so we bought a large Ruger six-shooter as a more reliable alternative to the XD-40.
The point is we bought more than one per month, for good reason.
I would say if the XD-40 jams a lot, it’s either a specific problem with the gun, or his wife is limp wristing it. The XD line are generally pretty reliable from what I’ve heard. But it’s a great way to point out why the one gun a month issue is a problem. The burden should be on the people advocating it to prove it reduces crime, of which there is currently no evidence whatsoever.
Hat Tip to Cemetery’s Weblog