Ed. note: The opinions here are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of this publication.
Diets Save Lives
There’s been plenty of speculation about Governor Christie’s choice to have gastric band surgery. Come on, he’s a father of young children — he deserves as many healthy years as possible with his kids.
In that same spirit, Governor Christie could ask the NJ Senate President to put gun magazines on a diet.
Ten bullets per magazine should be ample. It took the horror of the Sandy Hook School shooting for Connecticut to change its laws. Maryland and New York have followed suit.
Fewer bullets mean more chances to stop someone from taking lives. What is New Jersey waiting for?
Rebecca Feldman
Morristown Councilwoman (IND)
Co-founder, Morris Area Committee to Reduce Gun Violence
Their are many thousands of legal licensed guns in New Jersey homes. The owners have the legal right to own as many guns and as much ammunition as they choose without their friends or neighbors knowing if those guns are loaded or in a safe place. Every homeowner should be concerned about where the guns are in their neighborhood. Children and young adults are often curious, they will push buttons, switches and pull triggers.
I can’t own more than a legal limit of pets. My pets have to have rabies shots in order to protect the community. Why can’t gun owners be required to take normal precautions to protect others from the potential danger of loaded weapons in unsafe locations?
Rarely would anyone, even a policeman be able to get his or her gun in time to protect himself or his family from a person with mental problems or criminal with a gun on the street or attempting to break into a home. Reasonable restrictions protect us and our freedom. Don’t potential victims have the same constitutional rights that gun owners have?
What is NJ waiting for?
Maybe we’re waiting for enough people to grasp the fact that of all the deaths from gun violence, one out of three occurs at the hands of another person with a loaded gun. Two out of every three deaths by gun are suicides.
The concern expressed by persons wanting the government to leave law-abiding gun owning citizens alone would be more understandable if so much gun violence were not committed by people who actually were law-abiding gun owners before becoming enraged and shooting a family member – or took themselves out.
I believe that a significant number of people who commit suicide were law-abiding citizens before putting a gun to their heads.
“Guns in the Home and Risk of a Violent Death in the Home: Findings from a National Study,” notes, “Results show that regardless of storage practice, type of gun, or number of firearms in the home, having a gun in the home was associated with an increased risk of firearm homicide and firearm suicide in the home.”
This report offers solid material for serious conversation between responsible gun owners who value greater protection from violence by firearms and non-gun-owning advocates of GVP (gun-violence prevention) laws, as well as among gun owners whose perspectives on protection from gun violence vary widely.
Maybe you, dear reader, would consider starting such a conversation with friends and neighbors of varying opinions who would be willing to read and discuss factually-based reports relevant to gun-violence prevention. Informed dialog on divisive issues can lead to finding common ground.
Suggested reading:
Guns in the Home and Risk of a Violent Death in the Home: Findings from a National Study, The American Journal of Epidemiology https://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/160/10/929.full
(2004)
The gun toll we’re ignoring: suicide https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2013/01/20/the-gun-toll-ignoring-suicide/xeWBHDHEvvagfkRlU3CfZJ/story.html (January 20, 2013. The Boston Globe)
Report Links High Rates of Gun Violence to Weak State Regulations
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/us/report-links-high-rates-of-gun-violence-to-weak-laws.html?_r=0 (April 4, 2013)
Rate of U.S. Gun Violence Has Fallen since 1993 https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/05/07/181998015/rate-of-u-s-gun-violence-has-fallen-since-1993-study-says (May 7, 2013)
Violent Victimization Committed by Strangers 1993-2010 https://bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4557