Just when you thought Trenton gun banners had run out of bad ideas, these attention starved politicians simply start recycling stuff that’s already outlawed in New Jersey. On Monday, September 17, the Assembly Judiciary Committee is meeting to consider A.3129. This bill would make it a crime to acquire parts for the purpose of manufacturing an unserialized firearm. The Senate passed the companion version of this bill (S.2465) with amendments earlier this spring.
It’s already against the law to manufacture a firearm without a New Jersey manufacturer’s license. And despite the rhetoric, prohibited persons cannot legally possess firearms regardless of whether they have to be assembled or they are the finished product. Manufacturing unserialized firearms, or even serialized guns, was illegal before, it’s illegal now, and it will be illegal no matter what happens in Trenton next week. However, this entire charade gives the appearance that they are “doing something.” This isn’t the first time Trenton lawmakers have hustled redundant laws. Only a few months ago, they were doing the same thing with “armor piercing bullets.”
It is one thing that Trenton politicians waste their time and taxpayer funds on these types of bills, but what is really tragic is that they completely mislead the public into thinking these bills are going to do something to improve public safety. After they spent the entire spring debating and passing gun bills, just two weeks ago, public officials were lamenting the recent rash of shootings in Paterson, NJ. We all knew back in March that those gun bills didn’t make the streets safer, and they only punished law-abiding gun owners. Now, the same politicians are back selling the same failed ideas and expecting a different result.
Please contact members of the Assembly Judiciary Committee and strongly urge them to OPPOSE A.3129 when it comes up for a vote.