Saturday, August 17, 2013

Governor Chris Christie Allows .50 Caliber Rifles

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) late Friday vetoed a bill to ban a powerful model of assault weapon that he initially advocated in the wake of last December’s elementary school shootings in Newtown, Conn.
The bill that passed New Jersey’s Democratic legislature would have prohibited the Barrett .50 caliber long-range rifle. Although Christie this spring proposed a ban on future sales of the firearm, he vetoed the ultimate bill because he said it went too far, requiring residents who already own the rifle to give theirs up.
In a veto message to the General Assembly, Christie wrote that the bill “will not further our collective fight against crime, but serve only to confuse law-abiding gun owners with the threat of imprisonment for lawful recreation. I cannot approve of that result.”

8 comments:

  1. Please, Tell us how many crimes have been committed with .50 cal rifles.

    But sure, it's all about stopping crime.

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    1. I've never heard of a crime committed with a rocket launcher or grenade launcher, but I don't think they should be available to civilians. Do you? Where do you draw the line?

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    2. Mike, the federal government drew the line at .50 caliber. They also restrict access to the other items due to their having explosive warheads.

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    3. As I noted elsewhere, nice twist there, comparing an easily procured, legal item's record and the record of use of highly controlled destructive devices. It's a great apples to apples comparison that totally strengthens your argument.

      If you really want to get into my feelings on lines, we can go down that rabbit hole and postulate on what things might look like if we honored the constitution's distrust of standing armies and relied more heavily on a militia system.

      However, if you don't feel like discussing such issues, then I'll just say that in the world we live in, we already deal with enough restrictions on our second amendment rights, and no, I don't think that we need to ban the .50 cal.

      Instead, people need to be required to be responsible in the use of whatever weapons they're using--have proper backstops and buffer zones, etc. Civil liability if something goes wrong, up to criminal liability if there is gross negligence/recklessness.

      Our current system may well need some repair in this area, but that is the general idea behind how our laws work now.

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    4. But Mike, you're drawing the line in chalk, and you have an eraser in your other hand.

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  2. Keep in mind that the only reason Christie is a Republican is that he's being graded on a curve.

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  3. Isn't that cute. Of course, the reality is that legally owning a gun in New Jersey is so difficult that this concession is meaningless in practical terms.

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    1. I know, according to you, the entire state of NJ is a gun free zone.

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