Senate Democrats Propose Instant Background Checks for Gun Buyers

Assault weapon restriction among gun control measures set to be introduced Monday.

New Jersey would create a new instant criminal background check system for gun buyers, require safety training to obtain a firearms permit and toughen penalties on gun traffickers under legislation announced Friday by state senate Democrats. Senate President Stephen Sweeney, Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg and Law and Public Safety Chairman Donald Norcross are set to introduce the multi-bill package Monday.  "I worked with Majority Leader Weinberg and Law and Public Safety Chairman Norcross, as well as advocates on both sides of the discussion, to compile a package of bills that will serve as a national model on gun safety," Sweeney said in a statement.  The "centerpiece" of the legislation would establish the instant background check …

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Davie

12:11 pm on Wednesday, April 24, 2013

They have an agenda far removed from mainstream America and that is sad.   more ›

Assembly Panel OKs Gun Control Measures Amid Raucous Crowd

NorthJersey.com reports two ejected by State Police as Law and Public Safety Committee passes 24 bills.

The New Jersey Assembly's Law and Public Safety Committee passed a package of 24 gun control bills today, amid an overflow crowd that "cheered, laughed and yelled," according to NorthJersey.com.    The bills passed by the committee include legislation to bar persons on the federal terrorist watch list from obtaining firearms, legislation prohibiting body armor-piercing ammunition and mail ordering of ammunition, and creating "weapon free" school zones.   According to the Associated Press, the full Assembly is also set to vote on bills requiring New Jersey to submit certain mental health records to the federal background check system, and removing gun ownership records from public disclosure rules. But the hearing today was a spirited one, …

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What's the Real Reason Behind the Violence?

Patch wants to know your thoughts on why 2012 was rife with violence.

As we embark on 2013, we know 2012 was a year full of memories–both good and bad. What we did see last year, however, was a large amount of violence, much of which included weapons and led to horrific tragedies. There was the movie theater shooting in Colorado, the mall shooting in Oregon, and the mid-December massacre of 20 children at an elementary school in Connecticut. For some, the violent acts turned into a debate and forum for gun control. For others, it was about the safety–or lack thereof–in schools and public places. Then there were the parents and even some media columnists who pointed at the ever-growing amount of accepted violence in television, movies and music. Many believe it's an oversight in helping the mentally ill …

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What's the Real Reason Behind the Violence?

Long Valley Patch wants to know your thoughts on why 2012 was rife with violence.

Assault Weapons Should be Banned, Mayor Says

Mayors throughout country are signing letter to President, Congress seeking stricter gun control legislation.

Last week a 20-year-old man shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children, at a school in Newtown, Conn., his mother and himself. On Wednesday, more than 750 mayors from around the country, who are part of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) coalition, signed a letter to call on President Barack Obama and Congress to pass stricter gun control legislation.  "With all the carnage from gun violence in our country, it's still almost impossible to believe that a mass shooting in a kindergarten class could happen," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement. Bloomberg is Co-Chair of MAIG. "We heard after Columbine that it was too soon to talk about gun laws. We heard it after Virginia Tech. After Tucson and Aurora and Oak …

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Kevin Nedd

3:32 pm on Thursday, January 3, 2013

Try starting with the weapons prohibited under the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which expired in 2004. It did not include baseball bats, nor did it include vehicles used to drive across town and assault school employees.   more ›

High-Capacity Ammo Magazines Should Be Banned, Senator Says

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg will ask Congress to approve a ban on ammunition magazines of more than 10 rounds. Do you agree with his proposed bill?

In the wake of the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) announced plans to reintroduce high-capacity magazine ban legislation in the 113th Congress. Lautenberg’s bill, the Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act, would prohibit the manufacture and sale of ammunition magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds. It also would ban ammunition magazines that could be readily converted to accept more than 10 rounds. “In light of yet another horrific shooting tragedy, it is clearer than ever that there is no place in our communities for deadly high-capacity gun magazines and I will keep working to pass my bill to reinstate the ban on them,” Lautenberg said in a statement. “If we don't pass a high-capacity …

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Gun Control Needs to be a Priority After CT Shooting

Is murder of 26 people, most of them children, enough to make Washington take notice?

Bullet-proof glass in every window. Armed guards monitoring X-ray machines at the sole entrance. Snipers on the rooftop keeping watch over the playground. Is this the future of elementary schools in New Jersey and the nation? It’s hard to imagine everything school officials would have to do to make children completely safe, after the horrific slaughter Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. There is one thing that this nation must do: Congress must pass and the president must sign laws putting much greater controls on guns, preferably to include an Australia-style firearms buy back. Information about the senseless murder of 20 first-graders and six staff members at the school is still incomplete, with new details seeming …

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National Assault Weapons Ban Renewal Long Overdue

Colorado shootings more evidence for the need to ban assault weapons nationwide.

In many states, there is no limit on the number of guns, nor on the amount of ammunition, one can buy. In New Jersey, however, you cannot purchase more than one gun each month and assault weapons are banned. The state ranked second behind California on the national scorecard of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. According to the campaign, the six states with the toughest gun laws also had the lowest gun death rates in the nation last year. Now that makes sense, doesn’t it? Including Friday’s mass shooting in a Colorado movie theater that claimed the lives of a dozen people and wounded 70, including a 23-year-old Sussex County woman, 20 people have been killed and 95 wounded in 22 days. A timeline by the Los Angeles Times of the …

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Ron Soussa

12:00 am on Monday, December 17, 2012

Diane Jones, I can understand your emotion, but passing along false information does nothing to help. The weapon used by the shooter is completely different than that used by our soldiers, who use select fire (assault rifles) weapons capable of fully automatic fire. The better discussion should be about mental illness and how we deal with it as a society: thebluereview.org/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother/   more ›