New Jersey has become the latest in a string of states with gun confiscation bills in the legislature. This bill reduces allowable magazine capacity from 15 to 10. The problem with this particular bill is that it applies to both removable and fixed mags—and there is no grace period, no registration; as soon as the bill becomes law, if you have a banned weapon you’re a felon, period.
What firearms would this ban? Lots more than just modern sporting rifles such as the AR-15. Tube-fed, semi-automatic rifles would also be banned because the magazine cannot be separated from the rifle. This means that guns like the Winchester 190, the Remington Nylon 66 and even the .22 caliber Marlin would be banned. Think about that: a .22 caliber plinker would be banned as an “assault rifle,” and as soon as that bill goes live, it is subject to seizure by law enforcement, who would certainly waste no time in showing up with the not-so-friendly SWAT team to relieve you of your guns or your life, whichever comes first. I also guarantee you that they wouldn’t be showing up with .22 caliber weapons themselves.
Remember just last May, these same legislators were caught on a hot microphone saying, “We needed a bill that was going to confiscate, confiscate, confiscate.”
Well, the AR-15 is a .22! So, better hand in those Marlins, too – just to be on the safe side, you know! (I mean, c’mon, how much of a difference can that 0.003 make?)
I’m still baffled by the idea that this isn’t an ex post facto law. Any constitutional scholars want to explain that one away – without merely referring to Supreme Court precedence?
Do you know how easy it is to identify someone’s political views? Do you know how easy it is for the authorities to obtain purchase records for firearms related items? Do you realize how that information could be used to suppress votes in states with gun confiscation laws?
But that’s crazy conspiracy talk, isn’t it?
After all, nothing like that has ever happened before.
How many more “nails” does Christie have before the final one is pounded on the “lid of the coffin”? (That is, any aspirations for the Republican presidential nomination for 2016.) Would his signing such a law be the final one?
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