The Thousand Oak mass shooter, a 28-year-old nut job with nothing to lose, killed 13 people and injured 12 or more. To commit this heinous act, the madman used a Glock Handgun and multiple magazines, mags that were already illegal to own in California.
Gov. Phil Murphy and the New Jersey legislators claim the Synagogue and Thousand Oak shootings were the impetus behind the New Jersey’s detachable 15-round mag ban to 10-rounds. One could argue the validity of that.
It’s no secret that for many years the rights of gun owners in New Jersey especially, have been under attack and the legislators write bills and wait for an incident to use as the catalyst for passing said bills into law.
The powers-that-be in New Jersey don’t believe peasants should have the rights to own firearms let alone a 15-round magazine. They believe only the state and celebrities should be allowed to own firearms for self-defense.
The rationalization behind a 15-round mag ban to 10-rounds is, the lower the capacity of the magazine the sooner the shooter would have to reload, potentially giving the victims a chance to respond with violence or retreat. There are no statistics to back this claim.
Unfortunately, one of the harsh realities we deal with when it comes to politicians, most pass laws based on fiction and not reality, and very seldom do these laws ever have the desired effect.
In 2012, after the Sandy Hook shooting, Connecticut passed their version of an “assault weapons” ban. The bill grandfathered in the existing “assault rifles” and required all gun owners to register their rifles with the state. The media reported out of 976,153 people who potentially own “assault rifles”, only 23,847 people ever registered.
In New Jersey, all firearms are registered through what they call a permit to purchase. So basically the state knows who owns what firearms and what magazines go with them. So, how will the state enforce this magazine ban? Will Murphy send out his Gestapo to check the house of every serf who owns a firearm? When he finds them will he throw them in the gulags?
ANJRPC along with the help of Scott L. Bach and Even F. Nappen filed suit against the mag ban, but the 3rd U.S. Circuit Courts ruled in favor of the state.
Let’s be intellectually honest here for a minute. The legal gun owners in New Jersey aren’t the cause for the violent crime plaguing the three most violent cities in the state, Trenton, Camden, and Newark. That would be the gang bangers and drug dealers, which by the way, no laws were written that will impact them specifically.
Additionally, the last public mass shooting in New Jersey was backing in September of 1949. That shooting left 13 people dead and 3 injured. The shooter used an 8-round P08 Lugar pistol.
However, will New Jersey gun owners follow Connecticut’s lead and declare enough is enough. Time will tell, but if you are one of those gun owners with mags over 10-rounds here is a four-page guide from ANJRPC to help you out.
The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, unless it’s a magazine over 10-rounds or a bump stock or a folding stock or a barrel shroud or a muzzle brake or a silencer or hollow points or, or, or.
