Murphy’s dirty trick to stop you from carrying a gun in NJ (Opinion)

SCOTUS last week did a lot more than overturn Roe v. Wade. In a decision that actually does affect New Jersey, the majority ruled in a New York case that states don’t generally have the constitutional right to tell law-abiding gun owners that they can’t carry a concealed weapon in public.

That’s a game-changer in a restrictive state like ours where “justifiable need” has barred almost everyone from being able to carry protection. New Jersey State Police Superintendent Patrick Callahan anticipates a huge number of new permit applications with the ruling. He estimates a wave in the hundreds of thousands at first.

So what does a progressive like Murphy do? Borrows a page from Malcolm X…stop you from carrying your weapon "by any means necessary."

He almost immediately signed an executive order instructing his administration to search for ways to make it so inconvenient to use your right to carry that you won’t bother. He wants to greatly expand the types of places where you would not be allowed to carry a concealed weapon. They are eyeing places like hospitals, government buildings, stadiums, public transit and even bars.

Make no mistake, they’re trying to get around the SCOTUS ruling. They’re trying to make it such a pain in the ass for you to plan your day that you won’t bother exercising your right to carry.

They’re even eyeing whether they can regulate how guns are “carried, transported, or conveyed.” You can bet it will be something impractical to, again, discourage you from carrying.

In a nearly apoplectic appearance lashing out at the Supreme Court decision, one thing the governor said jumped out at me. He told New Jersey, “A right to carry a concealed weapon is, in actuality, a recipe for tragedy.”

But is it?

People like Murphy will tell you there’s proof that states with carry laws have higher crime, more violence. Yet studies have actually been a mixed bag. Some studies indeed show that. Many others show those states had decreases in violent crime, decreases in assault, decreases in rape, etc.

I believe we should have always had the right to carry. Not because I’m a gun nut. (I don’t even own one.) But because I’ve lived in states with carry laws and never felt unsafe. Never knew friends were carrying for years every time I was with them then one day found out. I’d want that friend with me if some ill intent found its way to me in a dark parking garage one night.

Responsible gun owners who complied all these years with justifiable need laws they didn’t agree with don’t intimidate me if they suddenly carry. They’ve more than proven their integrity.

Gov. Murphy doesn’t see it that way. And as we all know with Murphy, it’s his way or the highway.

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

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