It wasn't even 12 hours before Phil Murphy gave a statement about the shooting in Cumberland County, promising to pass more gun-control legislation in New Jersey. He immediately went for the usual, pandering, gun grabbing, left-wing standard of passing more gun laws.

More gun laws would not have prevented this tragedy.

Sunday morning Murphy was quick to say “Let there be no mistake: This despicable and cowardly act of gun violence only steels our commitment to ensuring New Jersey leads the nation in passing and enforcing strong and commonsense gun safety laws. No community should ever experience what occurred last night in Fairfield." I'll bet a thousand bucks the perpetrator of this heinous act was not a lawful, responsible gun owner.

That's what all of our gun laws and proposed gun laws do. They infringe on the rights of responsible, lawful gun owners. If you think more laws will help, then you're having an emotional reaction to a very sly and dishonest governor who knows that is not the answer. The type of person that would bring a gun to a house party is already breaking existing New Jersey law.

This is not a gun problem. It's a criminal culture problem. The fact that the majority of citizens in this state don't see that is more dangerous than guns. Record numbers of people have filed for permits and have purchased guns in New Jersey in the past year and change.

With people being afraid of social unrest, the police being defunded or restricted, and an ever-increasing tyrannical government, New Jersey residents are nervous that the government can't and won't protect them.

If you're buying what Murphy is saying, then you're just plain stupid or too lazy to look up the facts and the bigger picture. He's not stupid. He knows exactly what he is doing, and it's not going to make you any safer, just the opposite.

You may not like guns or want to own one, but the more government makes this push to deny law-abiding citizens from owning them, the less safe all of us are. Our hearts go out to the victims of this horrendous shooting, but we should not punish innocent people who want to protect themselves for this crime.

If you eliminate all of the legal gun ownership in this state, guess who the only ones, aside from law-enforcement, will have them? Now you're catching on, skippy!

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy. Any opinions expressed are Dennis Malloy's own.

NJ's most and least COVID vaccinated towns, by county

New Jersey reported just short of 4 million people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 statewide, heading into the last week of May. So how does that break down across all 21 counties?

And, how can some communities show a vaccination rate of more than 100%, according to state data? Reasons include people who have moved, those who are traveling and not residing at home where the census counted them, students who may select their school residence for vaccination data and people in long-term care (or other facility-based housing) among other reasons, as explained in a footnote on the state COVID dashboard.

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