Q. ANJRPC has seemed quiet lately. What’s going on?
A. We are deeply engaged preparing for the most critical legislative battles gun owners have ever faced. Most of our work is behind the scenes right now and cannot be publicly discussed. We will have a lot to say when the time is right, as always.
Q. What kind of threats are we facing in NJ?
A. NJ legislators recently introduced 23 bills containing some of the most extreme measures ever proposed. Like requiring a psychological exam and in-home inspection before you can buy a firearm; 5-round ammunition capacity limit (a gun ban in disguise); draconian ammunition regulations, and a lot more. We will be providing detailed analysis of some of the worst of the bunch. And there may be more coming.
Q. We saw what just happened with the passage of New York’s extreme new gun laws. Can that happen here?
A. Anything can happen in the Garden State, but there is a very different legislative and political dynamic in New Jersey right now than there is in New York.We are working to keep it that way.
Q. Can my identity as a gun owner be obtained through freedom of information laws and published like what
just happened in New York?
A. No. New Jersey law is different from New York law and protects the identities of gun owners from disclosure.
Q. What’s your take on the national situation?
A. We’re in the fight of our lives.Anti-gun extremists have seized on the Newtown tragedy as their watershed moment, and are going for broke. Their aim is to destroy the Second Amendment, and they are blaming you for what happened in Connecticut. The media are overwhelmingly biased in their favor, and are falsely portraying gun owners as divided. It is more important than ever that gun owners be unified and support national organizations like NRA. We all need to speak with one voice on a national level and defend freedom.
Q. What can I do in New Jersey?
A. Prepare for battle. That means understanding that in the end this is going to come down to a series of committee hearings and legislative floor votes.Those are key moments when we need to make ourselves heard with maximum impact. That means if you have limited time and energy, you might want to conserve your time and energy for those moments. We will alert you as we always do as the threats start to move, and we will make specific action requests, like asking you to contact legislators, attend hearings, etc. With 23 bills just dumped on us, there could be a lot of activity and a lot of requests, and each must be treated with the same importance and fervor as the rest
Q. But I want to do more. Is there more I can do?  Â
A. Absolutely.You can proactively contact your legislators right now, you can write letters to the editor, you can donate to pro-Second Amendment organizations. Tell your legislators that these bills will do nothing to prevent another tragedy, will interfere with self defense, and wrongly punish law abiding citizens for the acts of criminals and madmen. But remember, the key moment of action will be committee hearings and floor votes. Your work is not done until you’ve weighed in then.
Q. What about the February 8 rally in Trenton?
A. If rallies are your thing, by all means, go. ANJRPC officers have been invited to speak and may well do so. The organizers have worked very hard putting this rally together, and we applaud their efforts. While rallies rarely change how legislators vote, they can be a great show of strength if well attended, and they can be inspiring. Just remember – your work is not done until you’ve weighed in with legislators at the key moments of action in the legislative process. For those interested, more on the rally is available here.
Q. Is ANJRPC going to cave or compromise in the upcoming battles?
A. Not a chance. For over a decade, we have fought in the trenches and defeated nearly every piece of misguided legislation that has come our way, against impossible odds. Our resolve is stronger than ever, and we will use every resource at our disposal to defend against this latest legislation dump.
Q. Can legislators really force us to pass a psychological evaluation and have an in-home inspection as a condition of exercising my constitutional right to own a firearm?
A. Legislators can write anything they want. If both houses of the legislature and the governor sign it, it becomes “law†even though it might be unconstitutional. It will stay on the books and be enforced by the organs of the state until someone challenges
it. That’s why ANJRPC has been aggressively using litigation to challenge some of the worst laws in New Jersey, and we have
bigger plans in the works.
Q. What is the impact of a 5-round magazine limitation?
A. It’s a stealth gun ban, an assault on the right of self defense, and would do nothing to prevent another tragedy. It would give criminals tremendous advantage over the law-abiding, and render many of the firearms you own useless.
To you folks in New Jersey, I can practically piss out my window and hit the New Jersey State Capitol (that’s a bit of a hyperbole, unfortunately), so if you need anything, let me know. In the amount of time it takes for a coffee break I can be over there helping out.
