Evan Nappen is the foremost authority on New Jersey gun laws, which is no small feat, given how complicated they are. He takes a look at the new one-gun-a-month bill passed by the House and Senate and concludes it has a number of drafting problems, including restricting dealers to getting one gun a month from distributors, allowing gun owners who want to dispose of a firearm collection only transfer one-gun-a-month to a dealer, and even fails to make certain exception for armed forces. Evan says the law is so bad, it will virtually end retail handgun sales in New Jersey. Maybe that was the point.
Category: Gun Rights
Bob Barr Speaks the Truth
Bob Barr cuts through the rhetoric about Lautenberg’s civil rights destroying bill that would deny folks on the terror watch list their Second Amendment rights. I’m glad he’s using his MSM soap box to get the truth out there. I suspect even Americans who aren’t gun people would be more than a little disturbed about the idea of the government limiting constitutional rights based on secret lists.
A Modern Militia Act
The Defensive Handgun blog takes down a notion floated by the CSGV that we could disarm everyone by drafting all American citizens into a new, federal militia. I think the supremely ironic thing about this proposal is that it is exactly what the anti-federalist were afraid of — that if the national government had plenary power over the militia, they could use that power to disarm the militia. The federalists, namely James Madison, chose to deal with this concern by recognizing, through the Second Amendment, that the people had the right to keep and bear arms. I think it’s amusing that the gun banners just came up with a scheme that was the reason the Second Amendment exists in the first place.
Sandy Froman Urges Opposition to Sotomayor
A heated debate has started in the U.S. Senate over her opposition to the right to keep and bear arms. This issue, which has decided the fate of presidential elections, could also decide her nomination. Gun owners, and especially the members of the National Rifle Association, must aggressively oppose Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.
We have to see what kind of opposition to her can be generated, and I think also get an idea as to whether we’ll have enough Democrats to block not only her, but to insist on a pro-Second Amendment nominee. A lot will come out in the hearings. Given that she’s against incorporation, and given that’s our immediate goal, she is definitely a problem.
I’m just skeptical Obama will put anyone on the court that will vote the way we want. At best, I think he finds someone who hasn’t said much about the Second Amendment, says all the right things in the confirmation hearings, but still ultimately votes against us.
Who to Thank
We know what we need to do with Fred “One-Gun-A-Month” Madden, but there are some Senators who made a good show of opposing the gun rationing bill on the floor of the Senate, at a time when I’m sure most of them just wanted to go home and sleep (I know I did).
The people who got up on the floor and spoke against rationing your rights were Marcia Karrow (R-23), Tony Bucco (R-25), Kevin O’Toole (R-40), and Gerald Cardinale (R-39). I will endeavor to get a hold of the video from their floor speeches. Also to be thanked is Senator Tom Kean Jr., who is the Senate Minority Leader, and who held the Republican caucus together on this. Those if you who know gun politics in New Jersey know keeping Republicans on the reservation on guns is like herding cats. Senator Kean has done an admirable job.
We also owe some thanks to former GOP chair Tom Wilson, who has been supportive of the GOP in New Jersey rebuilding the trust of gun owners, and trying to better serve this abused constituency. I sincerely hope Jay Webber will continue to advocate for the interests of New Jersey gun owners, since he’s taken over as GOP state chair a few weeks ago.
If you live in New Jersey, contact those Senators who at least were willing to call this bill out for the crap that it is, and thank them.
Call Fred
Fred “One-Gun-A-Month” Madden needs to start believing he made a terrible mistake by hitching his fortunes to a sinking ship (Governor Corzine). The sooner he starts believing that, the better. His district office number is (856) 232-6700. At the above link, you can find his electronic contact information. This needs to get spread far and wide, around forums, gun shops, or anywhere else where gun owners congregate. He needs to feel heat.
Know someone in his district? Make sure they call. His district encompasses Clementon Borough, Franklin Township, Glassboro Borough, Gloucester Township, Laurel Springs Borough, Lindenwold Borough, Monroe Township, Newfield Borough, Pitman Borough, Washington Township. Out of district New Jersey gun owners need to call too. Tell them you’ll volunteer for his opponents campaign, or tell them you’ll send his opponent money for his campaign. Even if you don’t, Madden must be made to believe he’s made a horrible mistake.
Get Angry, and Get Even
So one-gun-a-month passed, and will no doubt be signed into law by Governor Corzine with fanfare. New Jersey gun owners, by now, are used to their politicians crapping on them. But this one was different. It was different because we held this bill off in the Senate for months, embarrassed and enraged Bryan Miller several times, through a bipartisan coalition of Senators that prevented the bill from having enough votes to pass.
That changed last night. Governor Corzine put everything he had on the line to break that coalition, and he convinced Fred “One-Gun-A-Month” Madden to abandon gun owners, and abandon his oath to uphold The Constitution. Madden must be made to feel some heat over this vote. He will be up for re-election in 2011.
But Corzine is an entirely different weasel. Madden might have snatched the carrot, but Corzine is the man who dangled it in front of him. As everyone knows, Corzine is up this November. So this leaves New Jersey gun owners will some objectives:
- You need to get rid of Corzine. I don’t care how much you think Chris Christie is imperfect on gun rights (and he is). You must show you can punish Corzine for using gun owners as a political punching bag. If the SS Corzine sinks in the Atlantic, the rats who jumped on board his ship will have a tougher time politically.
- Speaking of rats, Fred Madden needs to lose his seat. If you live in his district, volunteer for his opponents campaign. If you live near his district, volunteer for his opponents campaign. If you live too far from his district to volunteer, send money. Again, it doesn’t really matter how pro-gun his opponent is, as long as his opponent isn’t a wildly mad gun hater, the goal needs to be to show the gun vote can hurt Madden.
If gun owners in New Jersey can do those two things, they might be able to promote some fear of the gun vote in Trenton. Corzine has essentially convinced them that they have nothing to fear from gun owners in New Jersey. True, there are only about a million gun owners in The Garden State, but if you could just get half of those gun owners to vote like gun owners, get involved, and get active, those in Trenton would fear you. NRA and ANJRPC’s job is now done. They’ve done all they can do. The rest is up to New Jersey gun owners.
New Jersey Senate Update
The Senate was supposed to go into session two hours ago, but have not yet. This could be a good sign on the gun rationing bill, as it might mean Corzine and Cody are having difficulty coming up with the votes they need. Keep the pressure on, because we could still get screwed. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: Senate just went into session.
UPDATE: Novelty lighters which were clearly a threat to New Jersey citizens are now banned in the Garden State by a vote of 37-1. It is just one of many fascinating things you can learn by watching the NJ Senate video feed.
UPDATE: I’m not ready to celebrate yet, but the Senate has gone into recess until after dinner. Supposedly, they will only be voting on budget matters, nominations, and bills currently coming over from the Assembly tonight. We’ll try to keep an eye on it later or see if there’s chatter out of Trenton that gives us a reason to be happy for today.
UPDATE: According to Sen. Dick Codey, George Bush is responsible for the overspending of the NJ Legislature this year. At least it’s keeping them from voting to ration guns.
It’s also amazing that the Democrats, via Sen. Barbara Buono, are making an issue of the horrors of a Republican proposal to cut down on prison inmate wages. She argued they absolutely could not be cut, even in difficult times when the money isn’t there. A Republican with a pulse should be able to defeat her on that bizarre speech alone.
UPDATE: The Republican Senators are getting up and making impassioned stands against this bill, but my fear is that it will pass. I don’t think it would be up if it wasn’t already a done deal.
UPDATE: Some Democratic Senators, namely Ronald Rice of Newark, don’t seem to have ever heard of Heller, and are still saying the Second Amendment is a collective right about the National Guard.
UPDATE: It’s 12:12AM, and I’m listening to the New Jersey Senate, so you don’t have to. It’ll be great if we prevail this evening. But I am not optimistic. Republicans wouldn’t be piling on like this against the bill if they didn’t know it was going to pass.
UPDATE: Senator M. Teresa Ruiz — vote her out! She does not honor her oath to uphold the Constitution. Senator John A. Girgenti can go join her in private life. “The right to bear arms is subject to restrictions.” “You need more than 12 guns a year to protect yourself? I don’t even understand that.”
UPDATE: Senator Loretta Weinberg says “You will have a right to bear 12 guns as arms. […] more than enough to compile a complete arsenal.  This bill merely limits the proliferation of guns in the state of New Jersey.”
UPDATE: I would just like to note that Richard Codey is a grade A, USDA pure asshole. He lives up to his name.
UPDATE: Senator Cunningam “Justice Scalia was clear that this kind of legislation was constitutional.” “Our streets are filled with illegal handguns.”  No Senator, your streets are filled with illegal criminals. “Would we need bulletproof vests if we did not have handguns on the streets?”  Do you really think you can keep criminals from getting handguns, such that our police officers can walk around protecting themselves with rainbow farting unicorns?
UPDATE: 12:23AM.  Passed 21 yeah, and 15 nea. New Jersey is now a one-gun-a-month state. I will have more later, including which Senators betrayed the Second Amendment. My message to New Jersey gun owners is don’t get mad… get even. You will have that opportunity come November. Vote the bastards out!
UPDATE: Watching the New Jersey Senate cannot be done without drinking. It really does help. A lot. There’s not much that makes me proud to be Pennsylvanian, but watching what goes on in Trenton is one of those things.
UPDATE: Your battle cry is Fred “One-Gun-A-Month” Madden. I will explain later. This man needs to feel the pressure from gun owners.
Divisive Issue
Prof. Reynolds wonders why people still think the Second Amendment is a divisive issue. If you’re a Democrat, it’s true. The GOP has pretty effectively used the issue as a wedge to stop a couple of bills, and get the Democrats bickering at each other. This has played to our advantage on the issue as a whole, but I don’t blame Democrats for thinking the issue is divisive. For their party, it is.
New Jersey Alert
Corzine is attempting to make guns a big issue in this election, and in that vain, there’s going to be a vote today on one-gun-a-month. NRA is urging people to contact their Senators today. Scott Bach is also calling Corzine out for trying to distract voters from his horrible mismanagement of the state.
Here’s my analysis of the game that Corzine is playing. Gun politics in New Jersey is difficult. The vast majority of the state are not gun owners, and have no familiarity with them. Figures on household gun ownership are as low as 14%, whereas the rest of the country hovers closer to 40%. Politicians that court the gun vote in the Garden State have to be careful not to come off as radical to the rest of the state. It’s a fine balancing act that’s hard to manage, and Corzine is hoping to push Christie off the balance beam.
The last thing Corzine wants is for Christie to be able to count on the gun vote in the election. By forcing a vote on one-gun-a-month, he’s going to try to force Christie to take a stand on it. Take a stand against it, and the majority of New Jersians who are not gun owners will think he’s a radical conservative. Take a stand in favor of it, you can count on gun owners to stay home on election day. What New Jersey gun owners can do is help give their local politicians, and Chris Christie, some cover to either take the issue head on, or at least dodge it. Send letters to the editor. Talk about how Corzine is using this silly gun issue to distract from his mismanagement of the state’s finances. Call your state rep and Senators and tell them the same thing. Tell them not to play along with the governor’s beating up on gun owners, and to get back to fixing the state’s finances. The only way gun owners are going to keep Christie on the reservation is to give him some cover. Corzine is showing he’s going to make guns an issue in this election, and it is imperative to make sure it’s Corzine, and not Christie, who ends up on the wrong side of the issue.