New Jersey Coalition for Self Defense

Now that One-Gun-a-Month (OGAM) has been passed, the next step was to be the assembly of a task force to oversee any changes needed to the new directive, which will take effect in January of 2010.

We previously reported on the response we received from the Governor’s office regarding the task force, and since then it seems that not a lot has changed as far as the nature of the dealings of this secret society of rights-fighters.

One of NJCSD’s members took upon himself to follow the progress of the Governor’s OGAM Task Force, and last week contacted Senator Fred Madden’s office for information. According to Senator Madden’s office, the task force has been named, and they’ve already met twice - on July 27 and August 10. Members, according to Senator Madden’s office, are:

Senator Fred Madden (D)
Senator Sandra B. Cunningham (D)
Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D)
Assemblyman Gorden Johnson (D)
An unnamed representative from the Attorney General’s Office
An unnamed representative from the State Police
A representative from ANJRPC (Rob Nixon)
An unnamed representative from Cease Fire NJ
An unnamed representative from the Prosecutors Association

Talking to Governor Corzine’s office, however, it’s a different story.

From our friends at the AP...

Sotomayor OK'd for Supreme Court in historic vote

I'd like to take a moment on this auspicious occasion to thank all the tireless advocates of affirmative action for their unwavering dedication over lo these many decades. If it's one thing we've been sorely lacking as a nation, it's people with the IQ of a canteloupe in positions to interpert the Constitution and decide the fate of the national rule of law.

In the aftermath of the explosive corruption probe that culminated in the very public arrests of numerous Democrat mayors, legislators, and appointees, Governor Jon Corzine scrambled for any subject to obscure and distract the public from his abysmal failure of leadership.
 
With the desperation of a rat on a sinking ship, Corzine, with his newly appointed running mate, Loretta Weinberg, at his side, flailed about for any flotation device he could find, and grabbed on to a tattered standby - firearms. On the verge of signing incredibly flawed One-Gun-a-Month legislation that will essentially drive retailers out of business, Corzine and Weinberg announced they had essentially prostituted themselves out to the hoplophobic desires of zealots like Bryan Miller and the Brady Campaign, adopting in wholesale fashion virtually their entire wish list of government-mandated disarmament and punishment of the law-abiding citizens of New Jersey.

Governor Corzine has made no big secret of how much he despises gun owners, as recently as last week inferring that gun owners or anyone else that didn’t agree with his personal views were a threat to society and criminals in waiting, needing only the addition of some type of firearm to go on a homicidal rampage. But personal attacks based on blatant and provable falsehoods are all Corzine has left to play.  And straight from page one of the liberal Democrat playbook: when you’re getting beaten badly, resort to invective, insults and lies to hide behind. We’ve all seen that already, in the form of his two latest and patently false attack ads on his soon-to-be successor Chris Christie.

On Monday, July 14, a message came in to the voicemail service of the New Jersey Coalition for Self Defense. It was a woman who identified herself as Carol Miller (listen here) from Governor Corzine’s appointment office. She was looking to get in touch with Bryan Miller (of Ceasefire NJ infamy) to discuss the Governor’s handgun task force (to be assembled in tandem with the one-gun-a-month statute), and she needed him to get back to her “ASAP”.  

Seeing an opportunity, our Executive Director, Joe Ficalora, returned Ms. Miller’s call with the purpose of first correcting the communication error, and second to see if an organization concerned with preserving self-defense rights might find a place alongside the sportsmen and hunters in defining the success or failure of the new restrictions.

Given the surprise and indignance expressed by the Governor’s aide at Joe’s knowledge of the existence of the task force, it is clear that she was under the impression that the task force was a hush-hush undertaking with rabid hoplophobe Bryan Miller as an accomplice. And since we haven’t received the courtesy of a return call, it also demonstrates that Governor Corzine couldn’t care less about the human right of self-defense. Why? Because it makes the best argument against the continuing futility of laws like one-gun-a-month.

If a hunter or sportsman loses his gun rights, he can simply go to the supermarket for something to grill, or find another hobby. If the citizen who wants to be able to have an effective, immediate response to a violent threat loses his gun rights, the consequence can be devastatingly permanent.

The good people of the Garden State deserve better. New Jersey’s regressive policies regarding self-defense are an ongoing insult to humanity, and Governor Corzine’s farce of a committee is just another effete stunt at the expense of our well-being. Those of us who value the ability to protect ourselves and our families stand to suffer the most as a result of oppressive gun laws, and we should not be ignored.