Monday - May 05, 2014

Farewell To Freedom Part 3: Bartering Away Your Freedoms

NJ 10 Round Magazine Law Hits Governor’s Desk

NRA ILA: New Jersey: Senate Committee to Hear Gun and Magazine Ban Legislation on Monday

On Monday, May 5, the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee is scheduled to hear Senate Bill 993.  Sponsored by state Senator Loretta Weinberg (D-37), S.993 seeks to restrict the maximum capacity of ammunition magazines from 15 to 10 rounds and ban many popular firearms.  Under the guise of public safety, anti-gun politicians continue their efforts to erode the Second Amendment rights of New Jersey residents.  New Jersey is one of only a few states which already has a magazine restriction, and another arbitrary limit will have no impact on crime or criminals.  Instead, this legislation demonstrably favors criminals who prefer to prey on unarmed victims.

Senate Bill 993 is the same piece of legislation as Assembly Bill A2006

[March 24, 2014] A controversial bill to limit magazines to just 10 rounds has passed the New Jersey Assembly and is now close to becoming law.

The bill, after rigorous debate and dramatic testimony from both pro-gunners and pro-gun control supporters, passed the Assembly by a vote of 46-31 last Thursday.

It is expected to make its way through the Democratically-controlled state Senate, where it was previously considered as part of a compromise agreement that would allow gun owners, hunters, and sportsmen to stop on the way to the shooting range or woods for food, emergencies or other “reasonable” stops in exchange for limiting magazines to 10 rounds.

“We have statements, time and time again, from law enforcement officials that have said it is during that time when an individual has had to go to reload that lives have been saved,” said Lou Greenwald (D-Camden), the bill’s sponsor. “And that this legislation, reducing to 10 rounds, is the most significant piece of legislation that will have an impact on peoples’ lives.”

Assembly Bill 2006 would revise the definition of a “large capacity ammunition magazine” to reduce the allowable rounds of ammunition from 15 to 10.

The bill also designates a semi-automatic rifle with a fixed magazine capacity exceeding 10 rounds as a “prohibited assault firearm.” The only exception to this would be for retired police officers, who could still possess the currently legal 15 round magazines.

There is no grandfather clause in either of these bills. If this is signed into law, and you have magazines that are legal today but will be illegal then, then you are a felon. Notice that the bill also outlaws you from owning a police style semi-automatic shotgun, the kind with the long magazine tube. And speaking of semi-automatics with long magazine tubes, countless thousands of old tubular magazine .22 rimfire rifles would suddenly become Assault Weapons.

All of this is being done to save lives, so they say. Because it takes ever so much longer to drop an empty 10 round magazine and pop in a new one TWICE than it does to drop an empty 15 round magazine and pop in a new one ONCE. Seriously. That is what this is about: Add half a second’s down time to a protracted firefight. And create an entirely new class of criminals.

Let’s see ... AR15 ... magazine catch is ... here. Push. Drop. Pop. Click. Ok, reloaded.
Let’s see ... 1911 pistol ... magazine catch is ... here. Push. Drop. Pop. Click. Ok, reloaded.

No, I don’t think it’s going to add even half a second. Maybe a quarter second. Maybe a third of a second, tops.  But wait, those 10 round magazines are smaller! Less bullets! What, you mean they’re smaller ... and thus easier to conceal?



So, we’ve got BS legislation on the one hand, that does NOTHING to prevent crime, and only further ostracizes and penalizes only the law-abiding gun owner ... and we’re taking that as barter for what? Clarification on firearms transport rules? Really? Do they do anything either? Do they address crime?

A2777 was recently touted as part of a deal among democrats to pacify gun owners in light of the impending gun ban / mag ban legislation described above. The legislation was supposed to fix the longstanding problem of what constitutes “reasonable deviations” from the direct transportation of firearms required by New Jersey law. Legal gun owners face prison sentences of up to ten years if they stop while properly transporting unloaded, locked firearms, unless they meet certain technical requirements and the stop is deemed a “reasonable deviation” in transportation.

Unfortunately, A2777 as written does not actually fix the problem, and makes the situation worse than under current law. The “fix” needs to be fixed.

Under current law, judges have discretion to decide on a case-by-case basis whether a particular set of circumstances constitutes a reasonable deviation. While that is a double-edged sword, and current law provides no guidance as to what a reasonable deviation is, at least gun owners caught within New Jersey’s tangled web of hyper-technical regulations have a chance at demonstrating to a judge that their particular transportation deviation was reasonable, and judges have the flexibility to prevent outrageous, absurd prison sentences where someone stops briefly and innocently while in lawful transit with firearms.

While the current proposal does contain a short list of circumstances that would be deemed reasonable, the wording of that proposal would limit reasonable deviations to just the items on that list, and prevent judges from finding that any other circumstance was a reasonable deviation. Judges would lose the discretion that they currently have to determine whether any other deviation is reasonable, and gun owners would still be facing jeopardy of potential 10-year prison sentences for common, innocent stops while en route to the range, because of deep flaws and omissions in the articulated list.

The terms? Those reasonably necessary deviations are defined as, AND LIMITED TO:

So you can drive directly to fellow hunter’s and shooter’s homes and pick them up or drop them off and then immediately leave, you can get gas, you can stop to use the bathroom, or you can stop to deal with an emergency. You can’t stop to visit anyone. You can’t stop to eat lunch. You can’t spend the night at a hotel. I’m not sure what happens when you have a connecting flight here in NJ and the connection gets cancelled or you get bumped. I guess it’s like the game Monopoly and you Go Directly To Jail.

The only possible good news here is that A2777 is still in committee. New Jersey Senate Law and Public Safety Committee. The NJ Senate is 40 members: currently 24 D, 16 R.



Wait, wait, wait. So we’re going to get the further magazine limit law because this nonsense In Transit law is so effin’ generous? WTF? Generous??? Like, dude, it totally makes it WORSE than it was before! That’s not a win-win; that’s a lose-lose.

The Nation of Riflemen is watching you Christie. We’re watching that greasy little pen in your fat little hand.

Posted by Drew458     on 05/05/2014 at 10:42 AM   
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •  
• Comments (0) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner