A handful of anti-gun bills is under consideration in the New Jersey legislature, threatening to further infringe on the rights of Garden State gun owners.
Promoters of the measures claim that the bills focus on firearms safety and accountability. As reported by nj1015.com, Democrat Assemblywoman Ellen Park, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, stated that none of the bills would infringe on the right to bear arms.
Whoo, thank goodness! We can all rest comfortably knowing Park and others are paying close attention to the Constitution when drafting their legislation.
Or not. A more cynical person might think Park’s statement is patently untrue. And a look at some of the measures under consideration confirms that fact.
One measure, A4975, designates possessing digital instructions for manufacturing firearms and firearm components as a fourth-degree crime. While making such guns is already illegal in the state, many similar state laws are being challenged in courtrooms across the nation. Although it raises a Second Amendment concern, this measure also infringes on First Amendment rights by dictating what paperwork or documents you can own or cannot own.
Another measure, A4974, would ban so-called “Glock switches” or “Glock auto sears,” which can be used to modify some semi-automatic pistols to fire multiple shots with one trigger pull. This measure is clearly unnecessary since federal law already imposes a 10-year felony sentence on anyone possessing such devices. Perhaps these devices will now be “double-secret” illegal in New Jersey.
Yet another bill, A4975, would make the state’s arguably unconstitutional “red-flag” law even worse. The measure would require the seizure of ammunition and gun parts from individuals subject to a domestic violence restraining order or conviction. The law already permits the seizure of firearms, but apparently, anti-gun lawmakers believe ammunition is somehow dangerous even without a gun.
Lastly, A5345 would require those selling guns in the Garden State to utilize a specific merchant category code (MCC) that would enable credit card companies to determine if their customers are purchasing firearms. The issue at hand is an MCC for gun purchases adopted by the International Organization for Standardization in 2022. MCCs are employed by payment processors (such as Visa and Mastercard) and other financial services companies to classify transactions.
Before the establishment of the specific code for firearms, retailers of guns were categorized under the MCC for sporting goods or miscellaneous retail. With the implementation of the new code, credit card companies and other payment processors will be able to identify purchases as firearms.
Earlier this month, the South Dakota Senate passed a measure banning the use of such codes. In last year’s session, several other gun-friendly states, including Utah, Florida, and Georgia, enacted laws to prohibit the use of firearms-specific MCCs.
However, states like New Jersey that oppose gun ownership are embracing such infringements. Last year, anti-gun states, including New York, California and Colorado, passed laws specifically requiring the use of the firearms-related MCC—the same scheme currently being proposed in New Jersey.
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