While you were distracted Murphy took away constitutional rights (Opinion)

Is there any other way to see it?

It might as well have been in the dead of the night in a back alley. Two days before Christmas Eve when New Jerseyans are more distracted than white-tailed deer during rutting season Gov Phil Murphy signed another gun law which was designed to do a sneaky maneuvering around a United States Supreme Court decision on concealed carry.

SCOTUS had declared a New York law, completely similar to New Jersey’s restrictive justifiable need rules, unconstitutional. The high court basically ruled states had to allow law-abiding gun owners to carry protection in public without such intrusion. Anyone who ever tried applying for a carry permit in the Garden State knows what a useless effort it is.

Until the SCOTUS ruling changed that.

Almost immediately Murphy set his minions in search of every possible way to thwart the will of the high court, deciding right to carry would be banned in all government buildings, casinos, arenas, bars, restaurants, hospitals, schools, daycare centers, and on and on and on. Basically making it such an enormous pain in the ass for a law-abiding gun owner to carry that they will give up and not bother to use their constitutional right.

It was signed into law in the hustle of the holidays with no real input from the public. And was almost immediately challenged with a lawsuit.

What did the bill’s main sponsor say about the legislation? Senate President Nicholas Scutari said,

People who are waiting in line to get a carrier permit in New Jersey, I don’t think they understand the responsibility that comes with carrying a firearm. It’s an extraordinary responsibility.

Really Nick? You think law-abiding gun owners with no criminal records don’t understand the enormous responsibility of guns?

I would gently suggest it is you, Scutari, who doesn’t understand the responsibility of guns. If you did you would realize while lawful gun owners waited years for this moment in frustration they never once violated the law. The law-abiding jumped through every hoop you put in front of them. Crossed every t. Dotted every i.

It’s the thugs who don’t understand the responsibility of guns because they never showed an ounce of any.

Neither have you, Nick. Neither have you, Phil Murphy. But then the Constitution was always above your pay grade, wasn’t it?

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

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