Here are NJ’s 7 new gun laws. They feel good, but that’s all.

On July 4th, Americans were hit with yet another devastating tragedy. In these 7 months alone, in 2022, we have experienced over 300 mass shootings and the number just keeps rising.

As I’ve made very clear on the air over the years, I believe tightening restrictions on gun ownership hurts only the honest person. Criminals are going to figure out how to get the guns anyway.

But gun control is such an emotional topic in this state, as it is everywhere else in the country, I usually try to stay out of it.

After all, I'll never be able to convince anyone who believes in tighter gun ownership restrictions what I believe: If we take away enough guns from honest people, it’ll only be criminals who have them.

I also believe that if enough honest people carry guns, they can stop a lot of these mass shootings in their tracks.

Nevertheless, we all know that New Jersey is one of those states where it’s already difficult to own a gun and our governor is under pressure like all U.S. governors are to do something to prevent a problem that, in my opinion, is unpreventable.

New Jersey has already begun to crack down. Seven new gun laws have been officially signed by Governor Murphy and they will go into effect immediately.

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Jersey already has tight gun laws, but anytime another shooting occurs, the masses will beg to have those laws made even more restrictive. But if you want to familiarize yourself with the new laws, here they are:

Empower the Attorney General to sue for public nuisance violations related to the sale or marketing of firearms.
Require firearm owners who move to New Jersey to register their guns and obtain a firearm purchaser ID card
Upgrade certain crimes related to manufacturing firearms from third degree to second degree.
Ban certain .50 caliber rifles.
Require electronic record-keeping of ammunition sales.
Require training to obtain a firearms purchaser ID card and gun permit.
Require firearm retailers to sell microstamping-enabled firearms once the technology is available.

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These are pretty strict laws being enforced, and any sale or purchase of a gun is going to be closely monitored in the state. While we all wish these laws could put an end to gun violence, we live in a world of uncertainty and no guarantee of a tomorrow.

Most gun laws in this country are emotional and reactionary and do nothing to stop a crazed individual from shooting up anything he wants to.

As much as these laws can make people feel good, it is rare that a restriction can prevent any bad thing from happening.

For example, if you look at past history, most mass shootings that we have seen were executed by perfectly unexpected whack jobs carrying perfectly legal guns.

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Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco only.

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