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Matt Sweetwood won a landmark victory for gun ownership rights from the New Jersey Supreme Court. So he’s against gun restrictions, right? Wrong. Here is his six point plan to help reduce gun violence.
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President Obama just gave a widely anticipated press conference on taking executive action to reduce gun violence. While declaring the validity of the 2nd Amendment and the right of gun owners to bear arms, he proposed closing the loopholes in the buying of guns without background checks and the improvement of our background checking system. I made exactly the same proposal in August of last year in my article below: “The Dad Who Won Landmark Supreme Court Gun Case Proposes 6-Step Solution to End Gun Violence”. In addition I provided other steps which would both reduce gun violence and protect the rights of lawful gun owners. I wished Mr. Obama and our Congress would come together and put those ideas into motion too.
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I am pro-gun, pro-constitution and anti-violence. I despise that innocent men, women, and children are losing their lives to this kind of mass gun violence in theaters, churches and schools. I despise that our inner cities are riddled with minority on minority gun crime. I despise that our second amendment rights are are justly being questioned, as most civilized folk are desperate to stop the cycle of gun crimes.
I also hated that the State of New Jersey engaged in a vicious campaign, to unfairly and improperly take my rights away. I am likely the only person you have heard of who fought hard, paid 100,000 dollars in the process all the way up to the Supreme Court with no help from the NRA or anyone. I fought hard and won.
It was 1996 and my wife moved out of the house permanently and I was left with five kids to take care of. Federal law says that you can’t own weapons if you are subject to a restraining order and we had mutual restraining orders. By consent agreement with the local New Jersey authorities, I sold my guns for $1 to a friendly gun shop and the local police held my firearms card.
My divorce, one of the longest in New Jersey history, after 2 separate visits to the appellate court, came to an end four years later. I now had permanent full custody of our five children and the restraining orders were lifted. When I attempted to get my firearms card back, the state refused saying a new law had been passed and since my guns were not returned to me, I could never legally own a gun in New Jersey again.
It took me six years to finally win a landmark decision in the NJ Supreme Court. It was an attack on gun ownership rights by an ideological district attorney’s office. The state wasn’t interested in protecting the public – they were engaging in politics. They spent a large amount of taxpayer dollars going after me – an individual who has never committed a crime of any kind, while gun violence reaches new record levels in many New Jersey cities.
I found it ironic that my court appearances were mostly in Newark and Trenton, New Jersey – cities well-known for illegal guns and violence. I could have left the courthouse, walked a block away and bought a gun on the street in minutes,
So what is the solution to this blight on our society? It’s certainly not banning guns. It is our constitutional right and it’s a fantasy to think you will remove the hundreds of millions of guns that are already in circulation. So, I propose the following 6-step solution, which will likely displease both gun-rights and anti-gun folks alike.
- There needs to be a modernized Federal database of all guns and gun owners. This way when someone commits an aggravated felony, we know they have guns. This is to track felons, not to track law abiding gun owners.
- 7-day waiting period before a gun is purchased and background checks on purchases for first time purchasers.
- Elimination of gun selling / trading and Internet gun purchases without background checks. We need to know who is buying guns.
- There should be a set standard for gun ownership. Currently, it is left in the discretion of local authorities who sometimes error incorrectly either way. If you have committed an aggravated felony you can’t have a gun. If you have mental health issues you get a hearing to determine your status. If you don’t fall into those categories, you can’t be denied a gun and you are allowed to carry it. The non-carry states are violating our 2nd amendment rights.
- Let’s do as the Israelis do. Currently, here in the USA, most sports arenas have searches on the way in. That needs to be effectuated on more public place where there are larger crowds. In Israel, you can’t enter a movie theater, bar, mall, etc., without bags being searched and wanded by a metal / bomb detector. And police need to be able to stop and frisk.
- Most gun crimes are committed by repeat offenders. There needs to be mandatory minimum jail sentences for any crime committed with a gun. Sell drugs while carrying a gun and get 10 years in prison – do it again, get 20 years. We need to let the bad guys know, gun crime gets you real time.
That is a pro-gun, reasonable gun control law, anti-violence, and pro-constitution solution. If both sides would actually get out of our ideological trenches we could make that happen. This article has inspired me to send my 6-step method to my Congressmen and Senators from New Jersey – while not holding my breath, waiting for a positive response.
Good guys should be able to own guns and protect themselves. The way the political debate is going right now, the bad guys will continue to get guns and the violence will continue.
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Photo: Flickr/Emily Wood
You cite Israel as an example, but you only took one half of a two-sided coin. In Israel, when you have a carry permit for a firearm (there is no distinction between concealed or open carry), there are no “gun-free zones” into which you cannot carry. Other than perhaps the parliament buildings or the national defense HQ, showing your permit during the screenings at the malls and sports arenas permits you to carry your firearm with you at all times. In Israel, an individual can be punished if their firearm is stolen through their negligence. Leaving a firearm in a… Read more »
Meanwhile, in Russia, Putin has said that it is your patriotic duty to own a gun, safety and marksmanship are taught in Jr High grades. I have an AK in sight and a Mak on me as I type.
The world is a dangerous and stupid place, I will not be victim to either
You know what bugs me is that no one has responded to what I asked. Same thing happen on facebook with my nephew where he’d posted some BS and I asked the same thing … no response.
C’mon people, ANSWER my question please.
Could someone please tell me how all this will effect the murders by illegal guns? “Chicago violence, homicides and shootings up in 2015” “Anthony Bowers, 61, was one of nearly 470 homicides in 2015 in Chicago, where more than 2,900 people were shot. Chicago had the most homicides of all U.S. cities in 2015, its worst year since 2012, when about 500 people were killed.” And this is JUST Chicago!!! Ya think any of these murderers watched the President today much less give a rats ass what he had to say? Chicago, gun laws in place, right? Then why is… Read more »
Mandatory minimum sentencing is a bad idea and thankfully we’re finally realizing it.
It removes the discretion of the judge for extenuating circumstances. Unless you think it’s OK for you to get screwed with a prosecution on a legal technicality because you happened to have your gun with you whenever it happened:
“I would normally give you probation for this offense, but mandatory minimum is 10 years because of the gun. Enjoy the next decade in jail.”
So what you’re saying is that anyone who, through the new laws, that as long as they had a good reason for obtaining that gun, should what, get a lesser punishment?
I support your right to offer solutions. However, I don’t see any of these actually impacting violent crime. You’re still looking at the symptoms, not the disease. The first semi-automatic rifle was invented by Sharps in 1885. The first semi-automatic pistol was invented by Laumann in 1892. The venerable Colt 1911 was invented by Jon Browning in 1911. The infamous Automatic Kalashnikov (AK)-47 was invented over the period of 1946-1948. The oft-maligned Armalite Rifle (AR)-15 was invented in 1958. I start from this simple question: If these weapons have been available for 50 to 130 years, why is it only… Read more »
“If you love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”
Samuel Adams
I think he was talking to you, Matt.
I’m really not certain how some of the recommendations are supposed to prevent future gun violence. 1. How will a federal database of all gun sales and owners have any effect of gun violence? If a person who has legally purchased a gun, which is then registered with the federal government decides to go into a school and kill a bunch of people, how will the registration have any effect. On the other hand, if a criminal want to commit a crime, they generally do it with illegally obtained guns. A federal database will do nothing to effect that either.… Read more »
“Database of gun owners?” A federal gun registry? I think not. What part of “shall not be infringed” isn’t getting through to you?
Who are you really? Sarah Brady?
Lol this is what passes for “pro gun” in the Peoples Republic of NJ. Best thing I ever did was move our old that progressive hellhole
“New Jersey” and still lives there.
I need say no more.
The very first sentence from this steaming-stinking pile of fecal-matter……”I am pro-gun, pro-constitution and anti-violence.” What low-hanging fruit you dangle. 1. You are not pro-gun. You are pro-being ‘allowed by govt to have the privilege to have guns under a host of govt mandated infringments’. 2. You are not pro-Constitution. You are anti-Constitution and you are advocating directly opposite to said Constitution’s Amendment II as well as advocating empowering federal-leviathan beyond its clearly enumerated powers and duties. 3. You are not anti-violence. You are ensuring violence will occur due to leviathan attempting to enact your authoritarian utopia via threat of… Read more »
“I am pro-gun, pro-constitution..”
Nope. No way. No how.
You Sir are a GD Idiot!
NJ & NY produce more people willing to give up there rights at the drop of a hat.
@3, you’re agreeing DDS. And BTW, did you mean to type “their” instead of “there?” Point being, yes, people in NJ and NY are all too willing to give up their rights at the drop of a hat, just as you say. Men should be ashamed as they have become weak, emasculated wimps. How else would you explain Bill de Blasio? How else would you explain once great cities in NJ, such as Camden, descending into absolute chaos? Wise men fled NY and NJ. If you’re still there, who is the idiot?
Why is it that people from New Jersey, home of more EPA Superfund sites than any other state, have such blind trust in the government? This reminds me of an incident from my youth. The Anhinga Trail in Everglades National park leaves the visitor center and winds around a pond maybe 100 yards wide. For the first hundred feet or so the paved path is separated from the pond by a low rock wall. But then it makes a 90 degree turn and heads back towards where a boardwalk actually takes the trail out over the swamp. After the turn… Read more »
As a 6th generation Floridian, I believe you. I’ve seen much worse. Try to tell a tourist from UK, or Japan or Spain, etc… that they should not allow their small children to wander unsupervised, as the human animals will snatch their children away. Try to tell them that they should bar the door to their Hotel room before going to sleep. They laugh. You can’t fix stupid. After all, Orlando, especially, is a happy, happy, joy, joy place. Not!!! Try to tell these folks they should rent a gun while vacationing in Florida and learn to shoot, while visiting… Read more »
Re: “There needs to be a Federal database of all guns and gun owners”
This would only apply to law-abiding citizens – criminals would be exempt from prosecution because of the Haynes vs US SCOTUS decision in 1968
“There needs to be a Federal database of all guns and gun owners.”
How will a database of all guns and gun owners stop gun violence? This make NO sense. In fact,
“Every gun sold needs to be in the Federal registry.”
Again, how does this reduce gun violence?
“There should be a set standard for gun ownership.”
Unlike a drivers license gun ownership is a Right, not a privilege.
“If you have committed an aggravated felony you can’t have a gun.”
Already the cause. If you are convicted of a felony you can’t legal,y own a gun.
“There needs to be a Federal database of all guns and gun owners.” NO. WE WILL NOT COMPLY. How many millions of us are you willing to kill to make us comply? How many thousand cops and military men are you willing to have killed in the attempt? “7-day waiting period before a gun is purchased and background checks on every purchase” NO. Background checks and waiting periods are NOT obeyed by criminals. The NICS check should be repealed, but we certainly don’t want MORE onerous infringements of the sacred right to self-defense. Waiting periods are evil, and prevent people… Read more »
Of course the real objective of the articles author is to establish a database of firearms and firearms owners for future misuse by the State/Those in Power.. So his position is predictably that of all would be tyrants..and their Sycophant Toadies.
Litmus test: if we were to agree to your list of restrictions, would you agree to elimination of all NFA & 922(o) restrictions, allowing any law-abiding citizen to buy (without additional taxes/prohibitions) and open-carry (in all states) select-fire arms such as the Glock 18 and Colt M4? and similarly (price being the owner’s problem) park an M-777 howitzer in the driveway?
Didn’t think so.
Nice try, but most of these suggestions will effect only those who obey laws anyhow. Bad guys will remain bad guys and they simply don’t care. And mandatory minimums are a sure invitation to more cop deaths. A bad guy with a loaded illegal gun facing a 20-year minimum isn’t going to care if that cop wants to go home to his family tonight, he’s only interested in staying out of jail so he can commit more crimes tomorrow.
All governments accrue power, and all powers held by any government will, sooner or later, be abused. Allowing government to register guns is an act of fools.
With all due respect, sir, you are out of your freakin’ mind.
Your “suggestions” read like a Chuck Schumer wet dream.
You are yet another ringer of the “I support the Second Amendment, BUT…” genre.
And as far as my individual, fundamental, natural unalienable right to arms is concerned, you can take a long walk off a short pier.
These are terrible ideas, based on how we are seeing a proliferation of guns slashing crime rates. Americans are well advised to not trust the national government to do anything properly or well as relates to individual citizens. It was never supposed to interfere with our lives directly, but always to go through the states. Each and every time it has increased its power and control this way, it has horribly fouled up. In Arizona, perhaps the most gun friendly state, there is no chaos or disorder, instead civility reigns, and without government involvement at all. If someone cannot deal… Read more »
I won’t beg for permission in order to exercise my natural rights.
Wow – you guys really really love your guns. It’s pretty weird.
We don’t take advice from subjects.
Well Brit, the fact is that to many individuals here in these united States, we take our fundamental Liberty deadly serious. Highly placed amongst those fundamental Liberties is the indiviudal Liberty to keep and bear arms. It is the one that best ensures that it and all other essential rightful Liberties can be defended, with deadly force if and as necessaryand yes, defended from encroachment by the govt that falsely claims to have the consent of the governed. I certainly don’t expect anyone generationally-indoctrinated in European-socialist collectivist-ideology to grasp this, but oh well. Fact is that it is not weird… Read more »
Quite a lot of us like the guns we have, Yes we do. In the latter quarter of the 18th century we taught a bunch of your countrymen, who wanted to take them away, just how much we did like them. It wasn’t easy, but they finally got tired of getting shot up and decided that the best policy was to get the hell out of town and leave us alone. In the early 19th century, the next generation of your countrymen tried to exert their will upon us and, after a bit of trouble in the beginning, we kicked… Read more »