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State Senator Barbra Buono believes that New Jersey needs to do more on gun control. The fact of the matter is, we have the second toughest gun laws in America. Furthermore, it is fact that banning assault weapons has no effect on gun violence. But, Senator Buono would rather play politics in her quest to become governor than tell the truth.
If one subscribes to NJ laws they release their medical records fpr review, get finger printed and have them run by the FBI as well as now have their prints on record. A pistol permit has the same requirements but the firearms id card is a prerequisite. After all that before the gun shop hands you your gun, it runs a NICS check based on your driver license, a national database, to see if you went astray of the law since you got your permit to purchase a pistol or received your FID card.
Oh , if you don't subscribe to NJ law, just ignore the above requirements. And...apparently enough people have decided not to bother with laws as the monthy murder rate in Newark has gone unabated for over 40 years. It probably now has a weekly average to spread out over 40 years.
The bulk of the crime is committed by the few.
If Buono does not invite the Latin Kings, MS13 and the captive prison audience to officially comment on her proposed law, consider that another 'feel good' law at the expense of our freedom.
Gun violence is downstream of the illegal drug trade and the criminals and gangs which it supports.
If the drug trade were to be magically stopped, gun violence would not make the headlines, Newark would be reborn and politicians would find some other issue on which to make their bones.
The media unfortunately provides too much detail in an effort to titilate readers and sell more ads. they provide the 'how to' manual and bugle call to deviants who simmered away in an isolated and alternate universe.
There is a point of diminishing returns with legislation directed at guns. The solution must be larger than guns and include the breeding ground for crime....our prison system.
One look at the map of pistol permit holders in that NY county should tell you the density of firearms throughout our country. consider that map did not show other gun owners who did not have to have a permit. Facing that density of firearms it mandates that schools teach firearms saftey course as they teach fire saftey, sex ed and drivers ed. To not include firearms safety is irresponsible.
Buono response is that of a conditioned lab animal who presses the red button when ever the buzzer sounds. No thought invoved, just conditioned response.
Buono's proposal was to hold a committee discussion to see if there is anything else that should be done based on polls that show the majority of people in NJ favor stricter gun laws. It can't hurt to have the conversation, though she is obviously doing this out of political motivation. She claims that her primary interest is in enhancing background checks for mental illness and instituting a program to track ammunition sales.
None of this will really matter though in NJ which already has among the thoughest gun laws in the nation and our laws do work. NY only took the top prize for toughest when they passed laws that are very questionable in how far they will go to actually prevent anything. I would not want to see NJ go down the same knee jerk reactionary road that NY did, so I see nothing wrong with having an actual discussion and debate on the topic. Perhaps there are some common sense things we could add to strengthen our current laws while simultaneously overhauling some of NJ's "stranger" gun regulations.
Ultimately, though the issue of gun violence in NJ is not something NJ itself can solve. The guns being used on the streets of Newark and Camden do not come from NJ. Until there are federal regulations forcing things like universal background checks and registries in all states then guns will simply continue to flow from states with lax regulations into NJ. NJ's problem with guns originates in other states and we have little ability to do anything about that. As long as people feel it's acceptable that anyone can walk into a gun show and buy a gun from a private seller no questions asked, no background check done, etc. then guns will continue to flood our streets.
As for the assault weapons ban, it won't work to solve anything, it didn't before. The way "assault weapon" is defined is simply ridiculous and any provision used in the definition can easily be worked around by gun manufacturers. It also does not account for the fact that there are various semi-automatic rifles with the exact same capability as an AR-15 that simply just don't look like an AR-15. The one area that might have some impact is magazine limits or simply banning detatchable magazines and forcing the manufacturers to go with a fixed magazine with a limit of 10 or so rounds. "Assault weapons" are also not the ones being used in the vast majority of gun violence incidents, they just happen to be an easy target. These types of bans are where the anti-gun crowd gets it wrong.
Ms. Buono seems to be overdoing the gender thing in her attempts to get the Dem nod. She seems to want to focus on what she considers "women's issues" (e.g. guns) when courting the Sussex County Dems.
I'd like to know what she proposes to do about Abbott Schools, the gross inequities with regards to tax money re-distribution, corruption, NJ's debt.....things that affect both women and men.
Like Codey, she's been part of NJ's political apaaratus for years. What has she done to be considered a viable candidate for the top job?
the assault weapons limits are primarily cosmetic. the only one that really matters is capacity limits. the other stuff is just dumb stuff that i guess has some kind of political significance.
i want carry rights. if nj wants to pass more gun laws, they should try dangling that carrot out for the gun people.
I'd love to see laws that disarm the criminally bent and more predatory types that wander among us.
If they have been convicted of a felony, there are already laws which disarm them.
If they haven't, seems to me we ought to be convicting them before we go about disarming them.
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