NJ Law Journal Editorial - Strong Gun Law Saves Lives

 Today, like many days, there was another horrifying shooting.  Today it was Tennessee.

Two weeks ago it was Boulder, and before that Georgia.  New Jersey has the strongest gun laws in the country. And a low rate of gun deaths, though tragically high nonetheless.

Today the New Jersey Law Journal Editorial Board spoke up.  I'm proud to be a member. - GWC

Wayne LaPierre, the NRA leader, at the CPAC conference earlier this year, lambasted the mayors of Chicago and New York for recent increases in gun violence: Guns don’t kill people, people kill people, so don’t blame the availability of guns. When stated forcefully, it makes momentary sense.

Of course the fact that the country is flooded with easily and legally purchased weapons makes it easy for people in strong gun control states like New York and New Jersey to fall victim to illegal firearms. We recognize that the existence of such an arsenal cannot be wished away. And we are not going to send the police door to door to seize weapons, as some Second Amendment adherents fear.

But when a demented, possibly racist, misogynistic mass killer like the Georgia massage salon shooter got his weapon it wasn’t through illegal channels, purchased unlawfully. The young man walked into a store, bought a nine millimeter pistol and sufficient ammunition to kill eight and head down the road to inflict more mayhem. No criminal record, no finding of domestic violence stood in the way of his constitutionally protected purchase of a deadly weapon for no demonstrable reason other than his having the cash on hand and the desire to own a gun.

It is the current fashion to dismiss such concerns as having been placed beyond our reach by the Supreme Court mandate that there is a personal right to bear arms for self-defense. But our laws in New Jersey, like those in New York, would have prevented such a purchase. In New Jersey, a showing of need would have been required and the 30-round capacity gun would have been banned. Similarly in the Boulder grocery store massacre, the perpetrator was able to lawfully buy his large capacity magazine weapon shortly before the attack. We should urge the members of Congress, the Senate, and every legislator in every state to enact such laws.

Hate crime laws add nothing to the already maximum sentences for murder and do nothing to protect the principally Korean and Chinese women slaughtered in Georgia. Murder is already harshly punished. But keeping guns out of more hands might save lives.