Anatomy of a Gun Law

Anatomy of a Gun Law
by Ted Lang, Associate Editor

Second of Two Parts

December 6, 2002

Columnist Ted Lang The movers and shakers of gun control are populated by such behind-the-scenes millionaires as Samuel Newhouse of the Newark Star-Ledger, Arthur Sulzberger of The New York Times and billionaire Andrew McKelvey of Americans for Gun Safety. The latter organization financed a flurry of radio ads attacking gun ownership, yet as of April 2002, had zero members!

Clearly, the membership in these anti-gun/gun abolition groups need not be large or even exist. As long as political clout is at their disposal in the form of the mainstream establishment media, influenced and led by The New York Times, there will always appear to be more than adequate support for their unconstitutional agenda.

Their primary selling point in disarming America is that no intent exists to totally abolish firearms. But Senator Dianne Feinstein has been recorded on CBS' 60 Minutes admitting the intent to "Get them all!" And another selling point is of course the need for "sensible gun laws" offered by the Clintons' Million Mommies. Obviously, the Founding Fathers were anything but sensible.

The media will fully support any and all the fraudulent claims and propaganda necessary to help ram through restrictive, anti-constitutional legislation, never challenging any of these falsehoods. With this knowledge the small minority groups comprising the membership of CeasefireNJ and the Million Moms, both New Jersey originated groups and part of the Bill Clinton legacy, used their media friends to frighten and intimidate New Jersey legislators into passing two worse-than-useless stupid pieces of freedom-infringing legislation: the "smart gun" bill, and "ballistic fingerprinting." Both of these laws were passed using seemingly harmless government dictums similarly employed by Adolf Hitler for his gun control preceding The Holocaust.

The power czar of the New Jersey State House and chief proponent for these minorities is Assemblywoman Lorretta Weinberg [D-Bergen]. On New Jersey Cable Channel 12's Power and Politics on November 23rd, Weinberg explained that a great number of organizations, including the Moms, CeasfireNJ, the League of Jewish Women, school districts, and others supported the legislation. Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll [R-Morris] pointed out that the people supporting both pieces of legislation "know nothing" about either the non-existent technology or firearms. As for parents' concerns about gun safety, Carroll offered: "Don't buy a gun!"

Star-Ledger columnist John McLaughlin pointed out in his November 3rd column, "NRA learns promises are for breaking," that commitments made by gubernatorial candidate Jim McGreevey to the NRA were broken. McLaughlin writes: "Rich Miller, director of the Coalition of New Jersey Sportsmen says Gov. James E. McGreevey did just that during his successful campaign for the state's highest office in 2001. He says that in return for an understanding that he would sabotage 'smart gun' legislation, the coalition would stay more or less neutral in the race between McGreevey and Republican Bret Schundler." McLaughlin points out that Miller came to the conclusion that he could trust McGreevey after "several meetings" with the then-candidate.

Adding credibility to Miller's claim is the fact that when the "smart gun" bill was in the Law and Public Safety Committee of the State Assembly, Committee Chairman Peter Barnes [D-Middlesex], as well as Committee Member James W. Holzapfel [R-Ocean], promised to abstain from voting the bill to the Assembly floor for a general vote until police associations and departments would approve of the "smart gun" technology. Police agencies, for which this legislation and technology was originally intended, have continually refused approval of this technology, and both Chairman Barnes and Holzapfel knew this. This was obviously the "sabotage" intended.

But Assemblywoman Weinberg's whining and hysterics along with the media's support and threats from gun controllers to punish at the polls those who failed to support the bill terrorized legislators and Gov. McGreevey such that the Committee finally released it, and the Assembly passed it with the help of nine Republicans. It awaits re-approval by the Senate and McGreevey's signature. And to the Jersey media's glee, McGreevey won't disappoint. ***

In addition to his work at The American Partisan, Ted Lang is a government analyst and a political freelance writer. He has written for numerous websites such as USA Daily, where he is a columnist, The Patriotist, Sierra Times, as well as New Jersey newspapers. Lang holds a BA in political science and an MBA.

Photo of Columnist Ted Lang courtesy of the author