This is the pot calling the kettle black. Bryan Miller says we fail to discuss issues. This is the pot calling the kettle black. I will prove him wrong by attempting to engage in reasoned discourse. I’m sure it will be quickly followed by Reasoned DiscourseTM:
All can agree it is the responsibility of the legislature and administration to mediate between individual privilege and the common good. In this case, the common good is public safety and mediation has resulted in a moderate limit on handgun purchases, to diminish handgun trafficking.
Yes, but we’re not talking about individual privilege. We’re speaking of a constitutional right. A right Bryan. Get used to saying it, because it’s law now. A right. Now that we are speaking about the right terms, can you explain to me what other constitutional rights we ration? If I want to pick up three pistols, one for home, and one for me to carry and for my wife to carry, can you explain why I have to wait three months to do this?  Or have one gun for my primary residence, and one for my beach house, why I have to wait two months to make the purchase? Remember, it’s a right. You don’t get to argue I don’t need a gun to defend myself. The Supreme Court already ruled that out.
The law regulates purchases of handguns only. It in no way affects purchases of long guns, such as hunting rifles and shotguns. Since it is illegal to hunt with handguns in NJ, the law does not affect hunting at all.
It’s illegal to hunt with a handgun in New Jersey, but it is not illegal to hunt with handguns in many other states, and New Jersey hunters may want to avail themselves of hunting opportunities in other states. But that aside, this isn’t, and never has been about hunting.
While it is true a majority of crime guns recovered in NJ are traced back to states with weaker gun laws, ATF data shows that more than a quarter of recovered crime guns were originally purchased from in-state gun dealers. This is a substantial portion of guns used in crime, which this law is intended to reduce.
Originally purchased how long ago on average? How many were stolen, rather than purchased? How many were purchased through multiple purchases? You don’t know this.
ATF data has also shown that several NJ gun dealers have had both “frequent multiple sales to individuals” and “multiple crime guns traced” to them, indicators of likely trafficking originating at gun stores, according to ATF.
Considering how few dealers are left in New Jersey, I wouldn’t be surprised of many New Jersey gun dealers have frequent multiple gun sales, and frequent trace requests. That doesn’t mean that the multiple sales are ending on the black market, and I doubt you have any proof of this.
This law contravenes no one’s Constitutional rights. The US Supreme Court stated, in last year’s Heller ruling, that individuals have a Second Amendment right to possess handguns in homes for self-protection, but that said ruling “should not be taken to cast doubt on…laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms,” a clear endorsement of NJ’s ability to regulate handgun purchases.
It’s simplistic to argue that any condition or qualification on a commercial sale is constitutional. If that is the case, what’s to prevent a state from creating a qualification that only people who have incomes above 80,000 a year and good credit ratings may purchase a firearm? If you want to argue it’s constitutional, that’s one thing, but you’ll find nothing in Heller that states that rationing this right is among the types of “conditions and qualifications” the court is speaking to. Someone that has two residences, and suddenly find themselves under a credible threat might feel different about not being able to buy more than one firearm a month. Did Heller not speak for them?
Sorry Bryan, but we’re willing to have a coversation. You’re just not willing to listen to what we have to say. There was a time when you didn’t have to. Very soon that’s going to change, when your buddy Corzine is sent packing. You better get used to addressing us as fellow citizens with a reasonable point of view. The times are a changin’.
