“The New Jersey Assembly’s majority Democrats, citing the elementary-school massacre in Newtown, Conn., passed 22 gun-control bills Thursday that backers said would help curb gun violence,” philly.com reported at 3am this morning. The new bills limit ammunition magazines to 10 rounds (A1329), outlaw .50 caliber rifles (A3659), create weapon-free school zones (A1387), require background checks for private gun sales (A3748) and require safety training for people seeking firearm purchase permits (A3510). [Breakdown of provisions after the jump.] “We are not seeking to prevent law-abiding citizens from purchasing, owning, utilizing their guns. We are not trying to impede hunters and sportsmen in the state,” Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D., Essex) said before the votes. Senate passage is a done deal. All eyes turn to Governor Christie, whose non-committal comments offer little cause for hope of a veto . . .
“I’m a little surprised at how quickly they’ve done it,” Christie said Thursday after a political event in Sea Bright, where he picked up the Democratic mayor’s endorsement. “This is a very difficult issue and a complex one. And one that our national government has taken a long time to look at and study. It’s amazing to me how quickly the Assembly can move when they want to.”
Not to put too fine a point on it, another one bites the dust. Here are the new laws’ provisions as described by the Associated Press:
Among the measures adopted by the New Jersey Assembly to change New Jersey’s gun laws, bills would:
Reduce the maximum capacity of magazines to 10 rounds, as also proposed in federal legislation. New Jersey already has a 15-round cap. Retired police officers would be exempt from the reduction.
Ban online sales of weapons and ammunition, requiring all ammunition and weapon sales to be face-to-face. It was sponsored in response to the Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting, where authorities said the shooter amassed an arsenal of ammunition and explosives from purchases he made over the Internet.
Require background checks on private sales of handguns, rifles, or shotguns through a licensed retail dealer. Transactions between immediate family members, law enforcement officers and licensed collectors would be exempt.
Require submission of certain mental health records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, a submission not considered mandatory under current law.
Establish a 180-day prohibition, up from 30 days, on handgun purchases for those convicted of failing to report loss or theft of firearm.
Require a firearms safety training class as a condition to obtain a permit to purchase a firearm and a firearm purchaser ID card. Applicants who have law enforcement or military weapons training could substitute their experience for the class.
Require that firearms purchaser ID cards display a picture and be renewed every five years. Cards under existing law do not display a picture and do not expire. Gun purchasers must obtain both a firearms purchaser ID card and a permit to purchase a firearm.
Exempt firearms records from the state’s open records law. The bill clarifies ambiguity in existing law that does not firmly state rules about access to these records. The bill was sponsored in response to a New York newspaper’s publication of a map locating firearm permit-holders, which sponsors said they would not want to see happen in New Jersey.
Ban individuals convicted of any of more than 30 different types of crimes from purchasing, owning, or possessing firearms.
Prohibit the state Treasury from investing any assets of pensions or annuity funds in companies that manufacture, import, or sell assault firearms for civilian use. The bill exempts investments in companies that manufacture, import, or sell assault firearms for use by the military or law enforcement agencies.
Prohibit handgun ammunition capable of penetrating body armor.
Revise definition of a destructive device to include a ban on certain weapons that are .50-caliber or higher. It does not affect certain shotguns and shotgun ammunitions used for sporting purposes of that caliber, as well as antique firearms, antique handguns, muzzleloader rifles, and certain black powder muzzleloaders would also be exempt.
Prohibit a person named on the consolidated federal terrorist watch list from obtaining a firearm by disqualifying him or her from being issued a firearms ID card or a permit to purchase a handgun.
Allow the attorney general to seize firearms in the possession of people deemed by a mental health professional to be a threat to themselves or others.
Establish a 90-day period for a person to dispose of a weapon owned illegally. The legislation would assure that owners of any weapon or magazines that become illegal under a change in New Jersey law have time to dispose of the weapon or ammunition.
Require law enforcement agencies to report information relating to seized firearms to a database available to all law enforcement agencies. The information is meant to determine if any of the firearms were reported lost or stolen or are connected to any crimes. It also would determine the weapon’s original purchaser. The bill is similar to one in the federal gun control package.
Establish a 15-member task force to study issues of school safety.
Authorize municipalities to establish weapon-free zones around schools, day-care centers, public housing facilities, and public buildings such as libraries and museums. It would encompass areas that are 1,000 feet around a school, college, or university. The bill only targets those found unlawfully carrying a weapon, not people who obtained their firearms legally.
>We are not trying to impede hunters and sportsmen in the state
But they’re certainly succeeding.
I like how police were exempted from the mag cap reduction. Way to be elitist.
I will be adding new jersey to my list of states that I will never travel to. Like California, new York, and Colorado. It would be nice if I could get my company to relocate out of Illinois. Somewhere south…… like Texas.
Although I dont agree with most of the gun laws in the peoples republic of NJ, I do agree with the Law Enforcemnet exemption regarding mag caps. I’m retired and was a firearms instructor for 21 yrs. I teach other cops how to shoot. The day I retired, I could no longer carry 15 rd mags?? Thats rediculous. I think we all should be able to carry the same but I certainly dont feel like an elitist.
Thats a bold face lie they are trying to take our guns and if we let them take our guns we the people of the once great united states are done ! Our liberty will vanish !! Since the terrosit attacks our own goverment has not passed up a chance of making new laws that take our libertys!! Just look around zero tolerance in schools goverment , undressing you at the airports , Just ask the congress to do something obummer wont like , Like dont agree with him and see what happens !! I am at risk here of saying this they may come and arrest me saying i made a terrorist threat because i dont agree with obummer !!
Please use punctuation. That was painful to read.
OK ive about had enough of this bs , Its about time to load up and take control of these idoits that are out of control !! What about you ??????????????????????????
When Christie signs these bills, he’ll be kissing any lingering ambitions to the White House goodbye.
If he signs it, he might as well switch to the democrat party. The GOP will wash their hands of him, or his opponents will mop the floor with him.
Gun grabbers can justify anything….. nothing can detract them from their sworn mission not even the truth. Does not matter that gun free zones only produce more target rich/defenseless areas for mass shooters. Does not matter that instead of one 30 round mag. a shooter can use 3 10 round mags. Does not matter that criminals very rarely obey the law. Facts don’t matter, their mission is removal of guns from the general populace…. interesting that all the sheep are just following these powerful people right off the cliff and into the abyss that is government control of the masses with impunity.
This is where armalite and the other manufacturers unwilling to take a meaningful stand will loose out. Theres only 50 states to sell your product. By not taking a stand now, you are putting your stamp of approval on a small minority of people stripping you of your market. In this case, not do you lose customers but public money cant be invested in your business (even though public money can still be used to buy your products through LEO purchases – wrap your mind around that one). In either case…. Its time to take a stand for these manufacturers before they let all 50 states fall
Christie will sign this too, ugh. Whats also scary is that he may win the GOP nomination in 2016 if he decides to run too.
Well, he won’t get the nomination. And if he does, it’s irrelevant, since Hillary is going to win. The GOP has pretty much surrendered for the next decade or so.
So you can still buy an AR there?
Agreed, but the dollars and cents dynamic favors large government contracts over individual sales. As a company, its easier to make a large profit margin selling large quantities of products and support in bulk to one customer instead of having to compete on the open market for sales to civilians where your margins are more limited, and you as a company have to spend more money to stay competitive. Its a lot easier to just make 100,000 guns for one public client and call it a day. That’s how large firms like HK , Beretta, and other European gun makers stay in business in their civil gun-ownership hostile continent.
I’m still having no success finding the “hunting and sportsmens” clause in the 2nd Amendment.
And how is 3-Gun not a sport? The competitors have sponsor logos on their shirts and everything.
The sad thing is that if we could have actually had a dialogue about these laws, several of them are things that most of us could have agreed on. But because the leftists said from the beginning that all their bills were just a stalking horse for eventual confiscation, there was never going to be a “conversation”, and now we’re trading economic sanctions and criminalizing each others’ policy goals instead.
The word “conversation” is currently the most abused and misused word in the English language, at least in this country.
It doesn’t help in Japan. They simply step in front of a train.
+1
Here in Illinois too, a few every year just step infront of a Metra train…
People who want to die, will find a way.
Walker has just been überKraffted!
Maybe Jeffery could find a way to get criminals to off themselves saving us all a lot of money.
I wonder if at least part of the game was forcing Christie to sign it.
If he doesn’t sign it, the Dems can carry the screaming about he’s blocking “saving our children” legislation into the next election cycle.
If he does sign it, they get what they want and he kills any chance he had at being president.
Like I needed another reason to never go to New Jersey.
From what I understand about New Jersey law, Christie must actively veto the laws in order to stop them. If he does nothing, they’ll automatically take effect 45 days after the vote.
As the legislation slowly rolls down the east coast, I sure hope Virginia doesn’t follow suit.
Question on the legality of all this – if they outright ban something, such as your 30 round PMAGs, doesn’t the government have an obligation to pay you for them at market value? I don’t fully understand this grey area. I though if they take it away, they gotta pay.
Municipal governments typically pay well under fair market value for private land when they exercise eminent domain. The landowners either spend their own money to sue for the difference, or (usually) they just take the offer because the difference isn’t enough to care about. Now, that precedent may or may not apply to tangible personal property like guns and magazines, but in practical terms your decision is still going to be whether it’s worth it to pay your lawyer to sue over the value of the property. You’d have to own more guns and mags than most people do for the numbers to work.
My guess is that there will be a nominal, punitively lowball amount paid in any mandatory buyback. There will be a class-action suit, and the plaintiffs will win and be compensated years later.
Why stop there? How about reduced access to cars, sharp pointy objects, rope, drugs, tall buildings, matches, alcohol, deep bodies of water, elevator shafts, train stations, and busy streets? Replace “guns” with any of the above and an argument could be made for any of those things. I think you have to address to root of the problem: suicidal behavior and depression. Look around you, folks. Pay more than the usual attention to your friends and family – take note of their behavior and show that you give a damn about others. Suicide prevention has to be about more than “reduced access” to things that can harm, or be used to end a person’s life. It is a LOT easier to show people that you care about them on a daily (even weekly) basis, than it is to talk them off the ledge (before it’s too late). Address the REAL problem… like everything else, get to the root and you can actually make an impact.
To fix the root cause of a problem is too complex. It’s easier to blame an inanimate object.
be careful what you ask for..
http://www.amazon.com/Agenda-21-Glenn-Beck/dp/1476716692/ref=sr_1_1
I fail to see any relevance to this discussion in the literary maunderings of a madman, apart from that we are discussing mental (un)health.
Russ, Kansan
Your opinion of Mr. Beck notwithstanding, Agenda 21 is, or should be, a concern to all.
Jersey – just another pile of Chris Christie’s blubber rotting in the sun. Too bad for the people that live there – but you reap what you sow.
Same goes for you CO – if you elect officials that make it a priority to legalize weed – you are going to reap officials that hate guns.
And New York – it was only a matter of time before the elitists in NYC got their way over the good people of the rest of the state.
Rise up! Take Action! If your politicians aren’t listening to letters, phone calls and emails then peaceful civil disobedience is your next step. And when the police-state government comes down on that then there will be only one option left.
I may not see the day… but my son might, when corrupt politicians are forcibly removed from office by true patriots and put into stocks on the streets.
For talking points with the antis: there are nine methods of suicide that have 89.5%+ effectiveness. Four of them are different types of gunshot wounds (Edit: the comment platform won’t let me link to the study, but it is easily Google-able). Five of them are not. Additionally, Japan — where all guns are completely banned — has a suicide rate twice the U.S., which is about in the middle worldwide.
This guy’s argument also unravels his whole point: there are really effective ways to commit suicide, including non-gun methods. And everyone knows them. These “ambivalent” cases who don’t really want to die are still going to take pills, etc. because of the very reason that guns (like hanging, etc.) *are* effective.
Also, isn’t the left supposed to be in favor of assisted suicide / the “right to die”?
No doubt in my mind Christie will sign every last one of these bills. Sorry Jersey, you’re screwed.
Well, you can’t deny he has a point if suicide were an instant impulse, but I think most suicides are well thought out, and are caused by deep depression. Using a gun makes it simpler is some ways but when people ideate of suicide, they usually brood on it and think about it for a long time. I think it is less impulsive than this man describes. The preparation and planning are usually long term. No one goes around happy with their lives and then on a moment’s bad news decide to kill themselves within a few minutes. It takes months, or years even, of depression to get to that point in most cases.
And now the freedom of New Jersey gun owners rests on Chris Christie. God help us, what has our country come to?
An evil person shooting innocent people – it’s been done before (Patrick Purdy with an AK in California for example).
Anybody found an email address or a way to send Christie’s office a note expressing our displeasure? I haven’t been able to locate one.
“Certain black powder muzzle loaders…”
Ever hear of a front loader that DIDN’T use black power?
Sheesh.
Russ
Ok, I take a major exception when the uninformed and quasi-intelligent make statements like this. I was a cop in a city with a very long beach front. People liked to drive to the edge of the world and then attempt suicide after watching one last sunrise. Most succeeded as the remoteness of some of the area meant they would go undiscovered for hours (if not days in the winter) as per their intent. The ones that are seeking atention, go off the beach access near the public parking in order to be “discovered”. I say this because I dealt with a lot of suicides. Both succesful and unsuccessful. They are rarely impulsive and when they are, they usually succeed, using a variety of methods, not just guns. Where there’s a will there’s a way, and I saw some creative ways. Sure, the off exception occurs where a guy has a long run of bad luck and decides after night of heavy drinking to quit. But those folks always chose a definitive method such as jumping off the bridge, hanging, stepping in front of a bus/tractor trailer, taking a sh1tload of pills, not just a handful and yes, sometimes a gun. Those exceptions are determined and aren’t the ones who cry for help. Removing handguns will simply lead them to one of the alternate surefire methods I indicated above.
The ones that are “crying for help”, all had suicidal thoughts, sometimes for years. I know this because I spent many an hour on suicide watch with the unsuccessful attempts, waiting at the county hospital for the psychologist to come in and officially commit them, listening to their stories of woe.
In my experience the cry for help people took half-hearted measures because they were in fact, crying for help. They wanted the attention so they planned their suicide attempt (and they all plan them, sometimes for a long time) with the express intent of being found and making the statement of, “I need help”. Often, they would attempt suicide several times before their depression finally got the better of them and they decided to go through with it for real. And for that, they chose a more definitive method like I mentioned for the impulse suicides. As a detective, following up on suicides, I talked to friends and family and only once, and I remember it clearly did they ever say they had no idea he/she was suicidal. They all struggled for many years with depression, bad divorces, substance abuse, etc. More often than not, when doing the death notification, I was often met with, “so he/she finally did it eh?”.
This moron is trying to blame the ineffectiveness of our mental health care system on guns. Another elitist claiming to know something he doesn’t.
So glad I recently left NJ for a free state. It was hard enough for an honest, law abiding person to get a gun in NJ before this. They brought it on themselves though, they voted these people into office.
Time to start planning an escape from this cess pool I live in… Well, I’m in a relatively rural, Republican leaning area of NJ, about 20 miles from PA, but we’re still bound by the same asinine state laws that get passed by the gun-grabbers.
So… where’s a good place to move that’s gun friendly, has decent manufacturing/engineering jobs, and isn’t in the middle of nowhere or under 6 feet of snow during the winter?
I would say Colorado, but they are kicking out their polymer manufacturers (Magpul Industries), are under a lot of snow, and have been conquered and colonized by Gun Prohibitionists. I wish you luck in your exodus from NJ.
Yeah I dont forsee a civil war circa 1860 but rather sectarian style violence and even perhaps guerrilla style warfare like we’ve seen in Iraq. Who knows. The courts are the first step then we’ll see.
Massachusetts passed landmark gun control in 1998. That year, there were 1.5 million gun owners in the state. Just a few years later, there were only 200,000 registered gun owners in the state.
The suicide rate has been going up ever since then.
Hmmm…
Mayhap the clippings were a part of why his terrified mother had begun to enact plans to send him away.
Pity it never occurred to her to lock up her arsenal. For her stupidity, she should be remembered and reviled as complicit in his crimes.
Russ, Kansan
Never in history has there been a shooting spree with a .50 caliber rifle but New Jersey decided to ban them anyway… because if you’re on a banning-spree, you don’t consider any of your targets innocent.
You mean you have never seen a gang banger walking around with an MRAD in their sagging pants!?
/sarcasm
What about The Gunny’s shotgun-produced abstract art? It kind of reminds me of Jackson Pollack, without the pretentiousness.
Again, we remember the names of the monsters just as they wish. Movies, games, comic books, and even music have been pointed to as the culprit, but how many times did we see that kid climb out the window at Columbine or watch the towers fall? If it bleeds, it leads, and that is a path to fame for a broken mind. When you think of Columbine, forget Kliebold and Harris. Remember Rachel Joy Scott. Fiction doesn’t frighten me, reality does, and that is why I am armed.
Each person has their own threshold and will know when they have reached it. Discussion among like minded individuals is an essential part of discovering this threshold and making the decision that “enough is enough”. When that time comes, be prepared to do what must be done with no hesitation or second thoughts. We owe that to our children and fellow patriots.
Face to face sales is a joke, as all Internet weapons purchases become a face to face transaction since the guns have to go to an FFL for transfer.
It’s also a defacto quasi-ban on everything as there aren’t a lot of gun stores around anymore. Arming up is about to become a whole lot harder in Jersey.
Maybe Cabelas will see this as an opportunity to open that Jersey store they’ve been thinking about.
Finally, if Christie signs this crap, he’s hurting his chances for seeking higher office as a Republican.
I know. Over 30 years ago even for long guns the cops wanted to know what your “need” was and they handed them out at their personal discretion – That’s in-your-face treason. Vote with your feet!
Katrina: Troops Ordered To Kill All Americans Who Do Not Turn In Guns “It was give up your gun or die” (Youtube)
“We are Preparing for Massive Civil War,” Says DHS Informant (Beacon Equity)
DHS Buys 200,000 More Rounds Of Ammo, Over 1.6 Billion Total (Western Journalism)
DHS Buys 7000 Full-Auto Assault Rifles, Calls Them ‘Personal Defense Weapons’ (Before It’s News)
Judge Andrew Napolitano: The Second Amendment is about the right to shoot tyrants, not deer!
“…The historical reality of the Second Amendment’s protection of the right to keep and bear arms is not that it protects the right to shoot deer. It protects the right to shoot tyrants, and it protects the right to shoot at them effectively, WITH THE SAME INSTRUMENTS THEY WOULD USE UPON US…”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jan/10/the-right-to-shoot-tyrants-not-deer/
My prediction is that Christie will veto some minor provision to show how pro-2nd Amendment he is. Two questions though. Is there an expanded AWB? Does one now FOID and a per gun permit for long guns, or is it still just for handguns?
Sword cane with a Chevy valve spring between case and handle.
Push the release and the flying stick would give pause to William Perry on PCP. That exposes a nice saber ground from a Chevy mono-leaf spring off a Nova.
I likes to make things, I does.
Russ
Suicide is a choice. The goal of control freaks generally and of civilian disarmament advocates in particular is to take meaning out of choices. They want choice without consequence.
The choice to die or to continue living is the one with the most consequence. Dorothy Parker once said that a person should always carry a gun–not that she was going to kill herself today, but to know that she had the choice to do so. That’s the key. If suicide isn’t an option, ultimately, someone else controls my life.
You’re right on the beam.
I am a huge fan of most Ruger products. The American was my first (as in owned) bolt-action and I cannot believe the value. Ready to move up in class, tho…
makes me wish the CZ527 carbine was chambered in anything other than .223 and 7.62×39.
Let’s make some sense of this. I spent a total of near 35 years in Law Enforcement before retiring so I think I probably know what I’m talking about. No Armalite….your argument does not wash. Still looks dirty. Cleanse yourself by making NO SALES to any agencies or LEO individuals. Why you ask? Very simple. Law enforcement officers in those states would have to get a request to buy and carry these banned weapons on department letterhead from the agency that they work for showing that the purchase was agreed to and approved by the Chief or Sheriff of the agency which they serve. Only then would that officer be able to obtain that weapon for carry within their respective agency. They would have to qualify with it and maintain proficiency with that firearm. As with the past ban if that officer leaves that department by choice or is seperated that weapon does not go with the individual when he leaves. Makes no difference that it was their cash that made the purchase. Remember it is a banned weapon. It becomes PROPERTY OF THE AGENCY for which it was purchased for use in the individual LEO holds no property rights to it. No ARMALITE your wash is on the line and it is still dirty. Don’t sell to any person or agency until this stupidity and mass liberal hysteria stops.
Albeit nitpicking, when the video showed the muzzle end of a firearm it always mentioned ‘as seen by the shooting victim’. So is a photo of the front of a car always ‘as seen by a hit and run victim’?
I took my left leaning sister in-law shooting for the first time the other month. It took a bit of prodding but I assured that it would be in a controlled environment, and that I would be there to enforce safety rules the whole time. She loved it and wants to go again. In the end she likened it to driving a car – It can be dangerous, but with the proper training and understanding of safety rules, it is a very safe and enjoyable time. So I’m very happy to say that there is one more of “us” and one less of “them” out there now. My brother in-law is next.
If it took FAL or AR10 magazines I’d buy one. Not that I have any of either but I like having mags that work in multiple guns.
my younger sibling is currently medicated for depression and anxiety issues, but does not have any violent tendencies to my knowledge. i’d like to take him shooting, but my parents are concerned, and obviously have been affected by the mental illness = gun violence media meme.
two questions for TTAG: how would you convince a parent that such activity is not bad for child, and
what are your criterion for someone you would NOT teach to shoot?
I would start with a single shot long gun, not even bring anything else. That way you can sit nice and close in complete control. If your parents aren’t shooters offer to run them through your planned course of fire on a range trip without the brother. But I wouldn’t push it too hard, I would NOT teach a kid to shoot if his parents told me not to.
Ambivalence. Yep, they probably only wanted help. The emotional argument is surprising, considering they’re coming from an “educated” source.
Although my brother committed suicide (pills), I strongly believe that sometimes suicide MAY be the best solution. I feel sympathy when I read about the elderly person, who goes into a care facility and shoots their ailing spouse, then them self. Who could have made it “all better” for them? Hey, I’m the founder of The Church of Devout Cowardice. I realize however, that society doesn’t always know best.
Firearms are just tools. Let’s take a step back and view them in their true light.
Pascal, my sympathies…
It sounds like a good cause. I am happy to help a needy brother in arms out anytime I can.
I just have one question, something to think about, would we be sending our regular capacity magazines to someplace where, given the political outlook in that place, those magazines might end up confiscated?
Honest Abe quoted the Bible saying,”A house divided against itsself cannot stand. Our nation cannot suvive,half-slave and half-free. It’s mustbe either all one or all the other.”
Fortunately, we don’t have to have a civil war. All we need is for those seeking liberty is to move ASAP to states that uphold liberty. By the next census, it’s all over.
The slave states will always gain control of the free states…Lincoln proved that (There are still a lot of idiots out there that think Lincoln freed the slaves). Statism is slavery terrorism and combined with their global money counterfeit racket, they will turn everyone into serfs.
Who else here read that and immediately thought of the Stasi and Cheka secret police organizations that monitored public behavior using the words of informants?
Forecast is for freezing rain tomorrow. No matter, still going to the Dutchess/Putnam Day of Resistance rally. Fight we must! Please, everyone, find where the closest rally is and get out there to support the 2A.
Those of you guys who are on social networking sites need to reprint this story everywhere you can. There are still people I’m the fence out there, and the more they hear about disgusting events like these, the less they’ll want to be a part of it.
That took courage, especially since she is going to face angry members of the self appointed black leadership in this country.
Broken Pencil Award
So where are those elves you were tellin me about?
Nice try but, Obama will be a bigger Tyrant than any of the ones mentioned
He hasn,’ t even gotten started with his evil scream to destroy America
Just wait its comming, he is pure evil. He’s gotta get the guns first.
Has FPS Russia opened up a satellite office in Syria now?
I cannot believe how many of the Armed “Intelligencia” on this thread believe that driving is a privilege! Learn your history, people, and stop buying into statist, authoritarian BS in regards to your property. Criminy!
Leghorn, the bottom line is that your inherent right to own and use your property for peaceful purposes are violated when you are forced to submit to government approval, permiting, insuring, etc. This applies both to guns and cars… and any other piece of property you licitly obtained.