Anyone remember that headline? The Boston Globe ran it inadvertently over an editorial criticizing Jimmy Carter’s economic policy. I’m running this one intentionally in relation to a northjersey.com editorial Herald News: Seeking common sense gun laws. The “mush” part refers to the editorial misstatements, mischaracterizations and misinformation. To wit: “Some of the [civilian disarmament measures heading down the pike in the Garden State] would limit ammunition magazines to 10 rounds, ban armor-piercing bullets, require that ammunition sales be conducted in person as opposed to over the Internet, seize guns from those deemed a threat by mental health professionals and deny gun permits to those on the terrorist watch list. None of the bills cleared by the committee are at all threatening to those who hunt, target shoot, or have a weapon at home for self-protection.” Well now . . .
Here I am thinking that ALL of those provision would threaten anyone who lives in the United States of America, in the sense that they ALL violate citizens’ Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. All of them put citizens in danger. Specifically . . .
1. Limiting ammunition magazines to ten rounds puts law-abiding citizens at a distinct disadvantage to criminals and government agents (feel free to stick with criminals if you wish to remain willfully ignorant).
2. Banning “armor piercing bullets” would ban most hunting ammunition. (What they really mean is hollow-point bullets which are not armor-piercing anyway and are safer than “normal” bullets for innocent life).
3. Banning Internet ammo sales means mandatory ammunition sales registration. Government agencies can use the information to launch criminal investigations based on the size of an ammunition purchase — despite the fact that there’s no correlation between ammo purchases and criminal intent.
4. Mental health checks are a means for the government to erect additional barriers to firearms ownership and open the door to civilian disarmament. Call it the Catch-22 conundrum (you must be crazy to want a gun).
5. Denying guns to people on the terrorist watch list would enable civilian disarmament by empowering the government to classify whomever it wanted as terrorists (i.e., gun rights advocates). Lest we forget, the current terrorist watch list has no formal process for appeal and hundreds of thousands of mistake entries.
OK, so, the “wimp” part. By pretending to support “common sense” gun control measures and sarcastically dismissing the concerns above as “irrational fears,” the editorial writer is hiding behind a veneer of civility.
There is nothing “civil” about civilian disarmament. It’s tyranny, plain and simple. If New Jersey’s left-leaning media mavens want to strip residents of their Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms and leave their citizens defenseless, they should say so, straight out.
Their attempts at “agreement” with gun rights advocates are equally sickening:
One example of that was the bill to allow municipalities to adopt “weapons-free zones” around a number of public facilities, including schools, day-care centers, libraries and museums. This strikes us as “feel good” legislation that would have little practical impact. Given the fact most private citizens cannot legally carry a gun anywhere in New Jersey, what’s to be gained by prohibiting them from doing so in a specific location?
You see what they’ve done there? The right to “keep” is gone so why belabor the point?
The funny (peculiar) thing is, northjersey.com kinda sorta know they’re about to witness a bad, bad thing. They can just about see that their residents’ rights are poised on the precipice of an enormous abyss. But they can’t bring themselves to learn from New York and pull back from the brink.
The full Assembly plans to vote on the 20-bill package this week and state Sen. Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex, who is a gubernatorial candidate, plans to introduce gun control legislation in the Senate.
It’s understandable that some lawmakers want to move quickly to bolster gun laws. But given how strong New Jersey laws already are there’s no reason to be too hasty. We should only pass new laws if they have a real chance of reducing gun violence.
As T.S. Eliot pointed out, this is the way the world ends: Not with a bang but a whimper.
If the Sons of Obama will stay out of my neighborhood, I will stay out of their neighborhood.
You sure they meant hollow point instead of armor piercing?
On facebook, a friend was challengin me that AR-15s fire more dangerous armor piecing bullets that hunters didn’t need. I had no clue what particular armor piercing bullets he was talking about but I didn’t want to get into a ‘my source is better than yours’ flame war, so I simply said, ‘hey hunters don’t want to have to chase a wounded animal. Deadlier bullets are better for them’. But now that I think about it, there is a armor piercing bullet meme among the anti gunners. Does anyone know what specifically they’re talking about?
Also, my friend mentioned that semi-auto ARs can be converted to full auto with a 50 dollar kit. My first guess was he was talking about bumpfire stocks which are impractical for anything but the range, but is there something else out there?
I had assumed that they are referring to those green-tipped rounds (which are already illegal where I live).
AP has it’s fingers in a lot of leftist cookie jars…AP supports the Virginia Press Association, a lobby group which stood against Virginia’s concealed carry permit privacy bill last week.
http://www.vpa.net/index.php/news/article/stanley_op-ed_in_daily_press_gun_permits_iare_i_the_publics_business1/
What’s a Honkey?
I disagree with Nick on almost all counts. There is only one legitimate law regarding firearms, and that is the 2nd amendment.
If a violent felon is a danger to himself or others.. leave him in prison. Otherwise, once he enters society as a free man again, he has as much right as anybody else to the means of self defense.
I do 100% agree on #1 though. Legalize marijuana. The drug war is responsible for 70% of the violent crimes in this nation. Simply legalize marijuana, and our crime rates will go down drastically almost overnight. There is zero reason, ZERO, to persist this needless stupidity over a plant.
Legalize all drugs or it won’t matter – the violence and traffic shit towards what ever is in demand on the black market, hence you have to get rid of the black market, and that means broad legalization of all narcotics.
That weight of 2.4 lbs. Is that loaded or unloaded. Some mfgrs specify whilst others do not. I am shopping for my first handgun and my shortlist now consists of the 75 SP-01, Sig P226 and Baretta 92-A1 based on NO PLASTIC, accessory rail, night sites, barrel length, weight and price. So far the 75 is at the top of that list.
I dunno who he is, but this ad, built around this one (random?) guy has all the hallmarks of a anti-gun trap.
I would refrain from speaking of him, until we know EVERYTHING about him.
I am unwavering in my commitment to waiver…
I thank you heartily! Of all the gun sites I visit (OK, it’s just two) TTAG is by far the best. You guys are right there on the cutting edge defending freedom in a sane and rational way! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that.
The reviews are good too!
Charlie
I was thinking today about how much I despise Progressives and their politics on both sides of the aisle. Most D politicians would qualify, and the first R that I thought of….John McCain.
The last year I lived in Japan the Mayor of Nagasaki was shot in the back three times by a low level Yakuza thug who was upset because his car was damaged on public property due to construction… the Mayor died.
Yakuza crime is a part of Japanese life, they see the Yakuza everyday, they even have publications dedicated to the who’s who in the underworld. Many restaurants have signs requesting the Yakuza not go there and many spa’s have signs prohibiting tattoos as a backdoor way of excluding the Yakuza without offending them.
I was told to avoid looking too closely at Yakuza owned buildings (everyone knows where they hang out) because, if offended, they might come to your home and kill everyone, women and children included. If you are being attacked by the Yakuza and call the police, they simply will not show up until well after you and your family have been murdered.
You see them in the streets, in their tacky clothes acting like they own the place… and in a way they do. Even I learned to step aside form these dangerous thugs.
Most Japanese avoid them and hope to evade their interest.
Occasionally they can’t, like the drunkard (public drunkenness and urination are both legal in Japan) who was beaten to death by a Yakuza for peeing near his car. ( Yaks’s are very touchy about their cars).
Some cities even have a special fund to compensate innocent victims who are hurt or suffer property damage due to Yakuza violence.
In short, Japan is a great study in what happens to a culture once only bad guys have guns. The cops are afraid, the people are afraid, the only people not fearful are the gangsters who don’t have much of a problem getting all the guns they want.
This is why I quit sending them letters. I always got form letters in response. Didn’t seem to matter whom I wrote, dem or repub. Our “representatives” haven’t represented us in a loooong time.
This is why more than ever we need to put the pressure on the politicians.
I’ve lost countless hours posting and drinking scotch which could have otherwise been used in a productive manner like weeding, washing the dogs, or watching sh!tty American Idol episodes with my wife. I can’t thank you guys enough.
Dyspeptic, you really have isolated the essentials, once again. No one that mattered liked Moynihan’s alternatives. He came to think this: “The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.” After a few years he lost much of his faith in the second part of that sentence as he saw the left-liberals and their constituencies “Defining Deviancy Down” (1993).
Pols clearly seem to be afraid of armed middle-class law-abiding people with accurate firearms, not the demographic that actually does the murdering and armed assault. Their proposals reveal this focus. What motive? Perhaps they fear that if they wreak our economy one more time, or try to use a regressive VAT tax to pay down national debt, the lid might blow off even among the law abiding public. I doubt that would happen. I do not doubt that is what they fear.
I wrote to Diane Feinstein. despite knowing up front it was a waste of time. Got a form letter from her that basically said “Thanks for sharing your point of view…”. They all use form letters.
They all parrot the “assault weapons are only for killing” crap because that is what the “Party Line” is…it’s not ignorance, it’s a deliberate political lie to keep the morons who vote for them ignorant and scared.
John McCain has lost it.
We all pay lip service but I feel these day’s it’s time to act. I think some Maryland residents need to start an impeachment process if they cannot get at least 275000 signatures it’s a lost cause.
In fact every state and every gun club in a State should get together to coordinate efforts to impeach all these unconstitutional governors. Phone, Door to door or signs in every place you frequent with contact info. If you can get donations the leaflets on every car or TV adds.
It must be done and some attorney’s who believe in the Constitution should be helping to get a movement organized and coordinated with every state. PRO BONO
If the NRA cannot legally help, they can give such a movement a lot of publicity.
I’m liking my:
http://www.airgundepot.com/gamo-p-25-blowback-pellet-pistol–177-cal.html
Have a pellet trap in the basement, can work on aiming and trigger with shots up to 25-30 feet. Good fun.
Great to have you aboard, Spikes.
To get the “big guys” on, we’re going to need a huge PR campaign, and we’re going to have to target S&W and Ruger first. They’re domestically owned companies, which give it the best chances of success.
Sig and Glock will be a lot harder. Rather than focus on them, I’d focus on the ammunition companies because, again, domestically owned.
Do legislators need to write an addendum to the law that includes what the spirit if the law is? Sheesh. “This is what we say, this is what we mean. We say STFU, we mean STFU”.
Or a .9 mm Pentel. It says it’s lead, but it’s really graphite. Environmentally safer.