Tuesday - January 08, 2008

pissin into the wind

NJ went and passed the bill I wrote about yesterday, with only small modifications. Once again the state chips away at my freedoms. Well, let’s try writing some letters. Yeah, not only will they get read, they’ll make a difference. I’ll get an intelligent response from my Senator, and my words will cause the Governor to toss this bill in the garbage where it belongs. As if.

Dear Governor Corzine

Please do not sign bill S2470/A2602. There are major flaws in this piece of legislation. It is one more mostly useless gun law that will do nothing to deter criminal behavior, while making honest citizens paper criminals.

It is impossible to determine if any given cartridge is designed to be used only in a handgun, as this bill now reads, because almost every cartridge ever made has been chambered in both rifles and handguns.

Unless things have recently changed, the firearms ID card in some towns is very primitive and can easily be forged. New Jersey is a small state and it would be a short trip to PA or NY where anyone could buy as much ammunition as they want with no IDs necessary, or have an out of state friend mail them some. It is beyond simple to get hold of ammunition; this bill will not even slow the criminals down.

The application of this law is not made clearly in the bill as written. Given a criminal in possession of a box of bullets, there is no way to tell if it will applied once or 50 times for that possession.

The definition NJ is using for ammunition includes the component parts. As far as I can tell this bill would criminalize people who collect range brass - fired ammo - for recycling. That’s just wrong.

I support measures to reduce criminal violence, but I feel this bill is no more than showboating. It will do nothing to deter anyone, and will likely be plea-bargained away immediately. Please don’t add one more useless law to the books.

Dear Senator Lance, 23rd District;

Now that you have voted for Bill S2470/A2602 and it has passed:

How will this bill impact mail order ammunition companies operating in New Jersey? I noticed that New Jersey is using the Federal definition of ammunition, which includes the component parts as well - the primers, brass cases, bullets, and gunpowder. Thus this bill applies both to retailers who sell live ammunition and to those who sell ammunition components. Very few of these retailers have a shooting range right there in their store and rely on mail orders for a large percent of their income. Did you just put all these companies out of business?

Could you explain to me please how law enforcement agents will be able to discern that any given ammunition was “specifically designed to be used only in a handgun” as the final version of this bill requires? There are so many different models of cartridges available, and many of them that are usually thought of as handgun cartridges also have rifles in which they will work just fine. While I could give you dozens of cartridge models as examples, this is a fundamental error in the wording of the bill. Cartridges are designed, period. The market then chambers a variety of firearms for those cartridges and sees what sells. It has been this way for over 130 years. There are very very few cartridges that only exist as rifle chamberings, and just as few that only exist as handgun chamberings.

You might think this bill is going to make it harder for criminals to obtain ammunition. It is not. They can still take a short drive to PA, NY, or any other state and buy as much as they want without the need to show any identification or government permission slips, as this bill demands. Criminals with the smallest bit of imagination can find someone to mail them a box of ammo, and you can’t do a thing about that. It is not a crime to send ammunition through the mail in most other states. At best this bill would make receipt of that package a crime, and you will have a very hard time enforcing that.

The last time I saw a New Jersey Firearms ID card it was a simple small piece of blue cardstock bearing the name and address of the isuee, a printed number, and a signature. Are there now plans in the works to make the ID card as copy proof as the new NJ Driver’s License? Will every township and borough have to use the exact same ID format? I hope so, because the ID card I saw was so simple a small child could easily forge one. How many million dollars will such an improvement effort cost the taxpayer?

Lastly, the application of this bill is unclear to me. Will it be applied on a bullet by bullet basis? If you catch a criminal in possession of 10 live rounds, does that mean 10 violations of this bill or just one? Will attempting to purchase ammunition without the proper papers be a violation of this bill as well, or just possession? Since the definition of ammunition includes the component parts, and the price of metals is at an all time high, have you just made criminals out of people who pick up range brass for recycling? What about the people who have a small hobby business casting lead bullets? Are they now criminals as well?

I think this new bill has good intentions, but really only opens a can of worms and adds to the grey areas of firearms laws. I think passing it was both a mistake and a waste of time. All you have done is added one more minor crime that a criminal can be charged with, and since this bill specifies that it is a crime of the fourth degree I think the likelihood of this charge being plea-bargained away is nearly a guarantee.

Posted by Drew458     on 01/08/2008 at 12:30 PM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Government •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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