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.
At least they haven’t lost their sense of humor. Randy
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?
“You sure they meant hollow point instead of armor piercing?”
I have heard many a sheep refer to HPs as “cop killers.” *sigh* The politicians may be smarter than they publicly appear but that public ignorance easily rubs off on the truly ignorant. Making their job easier at the end of the day
Sheep…..indeed.
I’m not a New Jerseyite and don’t know the ins and outs of their laws but,
Aren’t hollowpoints already illegal there? If so wouldn’t banning “armor piercing” bullets along with that existing hollowpoint ban make illegal nearly all ammo? Wouldn’t this effectively ban a whole bunch of guns for anything but decorations or “travelling” guns (i.e. legal to operate only in other states)? Death by a thousand cuts?
Hollow points are only illegal there if you commit any other crime. Since they make it easy to commit any other crime I strongly urge you to not use hollow points.
How can we know what they are talking about when THEY REALLY DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT? You can’t have a conversation on a technical subject with a person who is abjectly and wilfully ignorant on said subject.
As far as I know armor piercing ammunition is already illegal virtually everywhere. However, the antis are fluid with their definitions. Based upon their casual relationship with the truth, I wouldn’t trust anything they are putting forward. I’ve seen efforts to ban JHP ammo. Since the military uses FMJ, and police use JHP, it seems that the antis would be very happy to *accidentally* ban all ammo.
If the antis are liberal with their definition of armor piercing, they could wind up banning virtually everything, which is exactly what they want to do.
Good question. If “armor” is defined as a kevlar vest any of the Tula or Wolf 7.62×39 I own is “armor piercing”.
But, by the grace of God and plain common sense, I don’t live anywhere near NJ. (yeah, I know, it’s still our fight)
For a rifle or carbine, basically anything over .22 lr is armor piercing.
I had assumed that they are referring to those green-tipped rounds (which are already illegal where I live).
This.
“Armor piercing ammunition” actually has a legal definition.
According to 18 USC 921(a)(17):
“(B) The term `armor piercing ammunition’ means-
(i) a projectile or projectile core which may be used in a handgun and
which is constructed entirely (excluding the presence of traces of other
substances) from one or a combination of tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass,
bronze, beryllium copper, or depleted uranium; or
(ii) a full jacketed projectile larger than .22 caliber designed and
intended for use in a handgun and whose jacket has a weight of more than 25
percent of the total weight of the projectile.
(C) The term `armor piercing ammunition’ does not include shotgun shot
required by Federal or State environmental or game regulations for hunting
purposes, a frangible projectile designed for target shooting, a projectile
which the Secretary finds is primarily intended to be used for sporting
purposes, or any other projectile or projectile core which the Secretary
finds is intended to be used for industrial purposes, including a charge
used in an oil and gas well perforating device.”
As I understand it, AP ammo is already generally illegal.
Isn’t the M-193 “armor piercing” (don’t know why it’s not hyphenated) BY NATURE? Wasn’t that a requirement of its acceptance as our military rifle caliber?
Something like “pierce a quarter-inch steel plate at 200 yards”?
The free vs. unfree state experiment continues.
Can you make a citizen’s arrest on a politician who willfully attacks the Constitution?
If you can get past their armed security first, and then convince their buddies in law enforcement to arrest them, then sure you can. It’s that easy.
Unlike the pols I think ahead and foresee if the afore-mentioned action would be taken the whole of the assembly would end up in jail and complete and utter anarchy would ensue. I’m game. 8>o
No, there’s another procedure in place, hardly ever used. It’s called impeachment.
They are specifically trying to ban hollow point ammunition as well as any assault ammunition here in California.
“assault ammunition”? WTH is that?
The PRK pols don’t really know either, but that’s the wording in the bill, if I remember right.
It is. We will be allowed only rubber bullets because they are “less lethal.” We will become like England, where it is illegal to use “excessive” (read that as deadly or able to inflict serious bodily injury) force on intruders into one’s abode. Bullets are always excessive force.
It’s for those assault magazines.
If a boat paddle was good enough to protect a president, why isn’t it good enough for the average citizen?
“That’s no ordinary rabbit. It’s the most foul, cruel and bad-tempered rodent you’ve ever set eyes on.”
William Colby needed more than a paddle.
+1 on the MP reference. = )
OMG! The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog! Get it away! Get it away!
Si li crachait en mi le vis
Et escopi par grant vertu
Charlie (lol)
Regarding #3, all in-store ammo sales in NJ are logged by the sales clerk in a notebook, no matter how big or small. Also the Firearms ID is required to purchase ammo. Internet retailers follow pretty much the same formula, so I don’t see how imposing limits on how much you can buy will do anything to deter crime. Oh right, it won’t, but that’s not really the goal of such legislation, is it?
They think that it will deter mass killers because no one will be able to amass a “huge” supply of “thousands of rounds” of ammunition.
The irony is that, if you have someone carrying in self-defense, you want them to buy thousands of rounds of ammo so they can practice and become a better shot.
if these proposed laws and bills are representative of the PEOPLE in these areas, then I am in support . A representative government should only be trying to give their constituents what they ask for. If these bills are not in fact representative of what the PEOPLE want, they should not be allowed. If the PEOPLE are not being asked, then the elected officials trying to pass the legislation should be impeached, recalled, and imprisoned.
Matthew
Registered voter, gun-owner, Libertarian
What about the tyranny of the majority? Just because 51% of people want something, doesn’t mean they’re right. So in that case, should the government do it anyway? The Constitution protects us against exactly that, against a tyrannical majority, be it the public or the government.
+1.
Countermajoritarianism is the word you’re looking for. Our Constitution is full of protections for the individual, against the majority.
You seem to forget the federal and state constitutions, the PEOPLE don’t trump these unless they first amend them. This is a good thing. The PEOPLE are often panicking idiots.
Number one: who the hell is dumb enough to live in new jersey? Number two: who voted that fat boy into office?
Southern Jersey is quite lovely. It is really only a drag on summer weekends when everyone is trying to get to or leave the shore. Two lane country roads can’t handle the volume.
Why are we listening to anyone from NJ? There are foreign countries more American than that fascist cesspool.
Doesn’t New Jersey require armor-piercing rounds by law? Carrying hollow point cartridges in a handgun is illegal for ordinary citizens–presuming that they can carry in the first place. FMJ rounds have a higher tendency to penetrate than hollow points.
For some reason, lawmakers in NJ think that HPs are super extra double deadly, but if you asked them to explain why, you’d get a blank stare and nothing but silence. But hey, it’s a great soundbite when they want to appease their anti-gun base (who also are scared when they hear HPs mentioned, but they don’t know why either). Maybe they think that an HP bullet is like a homing missile, capable of killing dozens with one bullet?
DIAF NJ! This BS is exactly why I left! (And to my 2A brethren behind enemy lines… Godspeed!)