What do you do when you want to silence your opponents? Well, if you are new Gov. Phil Murphy you simply ignore them. That tactic was on full display last week as Gov. Murphy led a roundtable of gun control activists in Cherry Hill. About a dozen activists, representing almost every major gun control group, sat at the table with Gov. Murphy and Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald (D-6) to "discuss" their anti-gun wish list. Gun owners weren't invited. They weren't even asked for comment. So here you have a group of people who know nothing about firearms or safe firearm handling talking about gun "safety." It shouldn't come as a surprise that the talks were light on solutions and heavy on the same old gun ban rhetoric. Instead of a meaningful dialogue, the festivities included nothing more than a proclamation of their wish list for separating New Jersey's law-abiding gun owners from their firearms.
This self-appointed panel announced plans to:
- Ban magazines with a capacity greater than 10 rounds
- Ban .50 Caliber rifles
- Ban the sale of all traditional handguns by mandating the sale of only "Smart Guns"
- Ban "armor piercing" ammunition (which would ban most rifle ammunition)
- Require mandatory training to simply own firearms
- Oppose concealed carry
- Fund an anti-gun think tank at Rutgers
You can watch the “roundtable” here.
All of these agenda items have one thing in common. They only impact law-abiding gun owners, and will do nothing to improve public safety. As if it were believable, several speakers said they support the Second Amendment and sportsmen. They also played games with the English language, labeling their proposals "gun safety" measures, as if gun owners don't understand that this is simply code for gun bans.
Ultimately, the state of New Jersey has many real problems to address. The state already has some of the harshest gun laws in the country. However, Governor Murphy has proven he is more interested in pursuing political agendas than addressing real problems, and once again New Jersey's law-abiding gun owners are in the crosshairs.
Your NRA-ILA is going to fight each and every one of these anti-gun proposals in Trenton. Just last week, we supported litigation filed by ANJRPC to address the issuance of concealed carry permits. This is going to be an extremely challenging environment, but New Jersey gun owners are up to the task. Please continue to follow NRA-ILA alerts for updates.
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