New Jersey residents who want to carry a firearm — legally — must specify in detail “the urgent necessity for self-protection, as evidenced by specific threats or previous attacks which demonstrate a special danger to the applicant’s life that cannot be avoided by means other than by issuance of a permit to carry a handgun.” The state also maintains a de facto handgun registry and bans “assault weapons” and hollow point ammo (outside the home). Magazine capacity limits? Them too. In short, NJ is where gun rights go to die. So it’s no surprise then . . .
that the Garden State is considering passing a law making it illegal to walk while texting (as illustrated in the photo above). nydailynews.com:
Crossing the street in New Jersey with your eyes glued to your smartphone could mean spending 15 days in jail, paying a $50 fine, or both, in a “distracted walking” bill introduced by state assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt.
“Distracted pedestrians, like distracted drivers, present a potential danger to themselves and drivers on the road,” Lampitt said. “An individual crossing the road distracted by their smartphone presents just as much danger to motorists as someone jaywalking and should be held, at minimum, to the same penalty.”
The proposed measure would ban walking while texting and prohibit pedestrians on public roads from using their smartphones unless they’re hands-free.
Half of the $50 fine would go to safety education about the dangers of walking and texting, the lawmaker said.
While there’s no doubt that texting while walking can be deadly — as this grisly footage proves — the philosophy underlying the NJ law is even more dangerous. Once a government gets in the habit of passing punitive, prohibitive laws in the name of protecting people from themselves, there’s no limit to the liberty it can claim in the name of “public safety.”
Not to put too fine a point on it, gun rights are the metaphorical canary in the coal mine. Any government that degrades and destroys its citizens’ natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms is on a slippery slope to tyranny. It’s a shorter step than you might think from a government deciding when you can text to what you can text. While disarmed, of course.