(TRENTON) – New Jersey Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver had the
following published Wednesday in The
Philadelphia Inquirer as the Assembly plans Thursday to vote on more
than 20 gun violence prevention bills:
“From
Colorado to Connecticut, far too many lives have been cut short by senseless gun
violence.
These are
the mass tragedies that grab headlines. But, every day, even more innocent
Americans fall victim to bullets. In 2011 alone, 269 New Jerseyans were killed
by gun violence.
This week,
the General Assembly will vote on a comprehensive package of roughly two dozen
bills aimed at curbing this epidemic.
These
measures are a blend of temperance and temerity - the temperance necessary to
address this issue pragmatically without trampling on Second Amendment rights,
and the temerity to tackle this issue once and for all.
For those
who argue that our efforts are an emotional response to the tragedy at Sandy
Hook Elementary School, I don't entirely disagree. To not be driven by emotion
to address the incomprehensible slaying of 20 innocent children would be
baffling.
This is
not, however, a knee-jerk response. The time to get serious about protecting our
communities from gun violence is long overdue. Many of the proposals we have put
forth are the result of long-running discussions, expert advice, and common
sense.
Limiting
ammunition magazines to no more than 10 rounds may help prevent would-be
shooters from gunning down half of a movie theater. Taking guns away from an
individual deemed dangerous by a mental-health professional may help prevent a
college campus tragedy.
Many of
our other proposals are designed, not to infringe on the rights of law-abiding
citizens, but to keep guns out of the hands of criminals or those prone to
violence as a result of severe mental-health issues.
Requiring
government-issued photo identification cards to purchase a firearm is no more
unreasonable than requiring photo identification cards to drive an
automobile.
Another
proposal would prohibit anyone on the FBI's terrorist watch list from obtaining
a gun permit. Nearly 250 people on the list bought guns in 2010, according to
the Government Accountability Office.
Still
other proposals would:
·
Ban the sale of powerful, often battlefield-style,
weapons of .50 caliber or more; establish gun-free zones around
schools;
·
Prohibit the sale of body-armor-piercing bullets to
protect law enforcement;
·
Require the state to submit certain mental-health
records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to help
law-enforcement agencies nationwide conduct more thorough background
checks;
·
Require all state law-enforcement agencies to report
information relating to abandoned, discarded, or seized illegal guns to the
National Crime Information Center to determine whether that firearm has been
reported stolen; and
·
Require ballistic tests to be conducted on such guns and
reported to the National Integrated Ballistic Identification Network to
determine if the firearm is associated with a crime.
We cannot
expect to put an end to each and every gun crime, but we can responsibly close
the gaps and make our laws stronger. With the vast majority of Americans now
supporting stronger, smarter gun laws, it begs the question: If not now,
when?
When will
the cries of bereaved parents and the deafening silence on our playgrounds
finally tip the scales toward action rather than inertia? If we sit on our hands
we will mourn not just the victims we have already lost, but the many more that
will inevitably follow.
The
General Assembly will tilt the scales toward action on Thursday because, as
President Obama said in his State of the Union message, ‘They deserve a vote.’
"
No comments:
Post a Comment