NJ Republicans must have the courage to engage on the Second Amendment

There are three kinds of people who favor gun control: (1) Those who do so in reaction to horrific events and the media coverage of those events. (2) Those who emotionally or intuitively dislike guns or the idea of weapons. (3) Those looking for power, whether in the form of votes or other forms of power as would come from the confiscation of firearms.

Conservatives like United States Senator Ted Cruz (Republican-Texas) are taking a lead in the process of finding common ground with the first group and engaging with the second, which represent most of those who say they want stricter gun control. Here, Senator Cruz meets with prominent gun control advocates…

Senator Cruz has given a lot of thought to the Second Amendment and he knows who he is, where he stands, and why he stands there. This is important, because in order to have a conversation with those who hold a different position, you must first have a position of your own.

Most New Jersey Republicans get nervous around the Second Amendment. Most, not all, but most. This is an institutional thing that goes back decades. Sad to say, but even Bernie Sanders had a better voting record on the Second Amendment than did many New Jersey Republicans. When President Bill Clinton pushed a bill through Congress that required a seven-day waiting period for the purchase of a hand gun, Congressman Sanders (Socialist-Vermont) voted “NO”, while all but one of the Republicans in the New Jersey congressional delegation supported the bill.

Forget the Trump Revolution, New Jersey Republicans never really embraced the Reagan Revolution The brain and nervous system of the party tends to reject new stimuli. Nevertheless, the world has moved on, and the body of the party – those who identify or who could identify as Republicans – bears no resemblance to the past. Too often, the brain and nervous system reacts to them as outsiders and actively rejects them, looking, as they often do, like the Democrats of old.

So the Republican Party in New Jersey – the brains and nervous system of it – needs to adjust itself to its new body, for just as the body cannot function without a brain, the brain is fairly useless without a body to command. Step one in this process is an intellectual one. It requires engagement – brain with body – to learn again who it is and what it wants to do.

Before attempting to convince “swing” voters or Undeclared voters or “soft” Democrats… New Jersey Republicans must first know who they are, what they stand for, and what they would do in power. Only then can they engage in a dialog and adjust their message to sell their beliefs more effectively – that’s sell… more effectively, not scrap. And it really does help to get literate about this and to write it down, as an outline or a platform or whatever you wish to call it, so that it may be referred to and passed along.

As for the more tactile branches of the body – the activists – it is good to keep in mind the advice of Benjamin Franklin to the citizen who wished to know the form of government that we’d got. “A Republic,” he answered, “If you can keep it.” By this Franklin was instructing that citizenship is a daily duty. It does not end with a victorious election but begins there. The body sends a continuous flow of messages to the brain. It does not celebrate and then go dormant. Neither can the activist – or the good citizen.

Is gun control just political theatre for Trenton Dems?

Trenton Democrats have an opportunity to show they are more than just b.s. artists when it comes to gun control.  They can follow the lead of many of New Jersey’s new Democrats in Congress and pass a resolution to condemn Washington’s radicalism that wants to make it easier to put guns into the hands of illegals in America.

Led by Congressman Josh Gottheimer (D-05), most of New Jersey’s freshman Democrats in Congress opposed the Democrat majority in Congress – run by Speaker Nancy Pelosi – who opposed common sense gun safety legislation that required ICE – Immigration and Customs Enforcement – to be notified when an illegal immigrant is trying to purchase a firearm.  Congressman Gottheimer and a number of other Democrats joined with Republicans to support this legislation, which is designed to prevent illegals with violent criminal records in their home countries – and recruits to violent gangs like MS-13 – from obtaining a handgun or semi-automatic rifle.  

Democrats like Tom Malinowski (D-07) stood with Speaker Pelosi in opposing this common sense gun safety legislation.   Malinowski and Pelosi say that Americans should undergo background checks when they seek to purchase a gun to protect their home homes and families, but not illegals.  Malinowski and Pelosi support giving new recruits to groups like MS-13 the means to make their mark on American society.

As the former campaign manager for Malinowski’s campaign in Morris County, Democrat Assembly candidate Darcy Draeger should be asked what she thinks about her Congressman’s bad vote on this common sense gun safety legislation. Draeger should be asked to step up and do something about it – at the very least to issue a statement from the (Lisa) Bhimani – (Darcy) Draeger for Assembly campaign that opposes Malinowski’s position in opposition to this common sense gun safety legislation.

In voting against this common sense gun safety legislation, Malinowski joined with professional gun-criminal coddler Congresswoman Bonnie Watson-Coleman (D-12) whose own sons were convicted of gun-crime – the armed hold-up of a toy store in central New Jersey.  It is disgraceful for Malinowski to endanger the lives of his constituents and their families in this way. 

As State GOP Chairman Doug Steinhardt of Warren County said:  “Tom Malinowski is way out of step with the people of North Jersey” and is “perpetuating a prioritization of coddling illegal immigrants rather than supporting taxpayers and keeping our communities safe.” 

Steinhardt added: “This was obvious and important enough to earn the support of New Jersey Congressional Democrats Van Drew (D-02), Kim (D-03), Gottheimer (D-05), and Sherrill (D-11), and, of course, Republican Chris Smith (R-04).”  Now the question is for Trenton Democrats like Senate President Steve Sweeney and Speaker Craig Coughlin to step up and show that all their “gun control” talk isn’t just political theatre and that they mean it, by adding their voices in support of this common sense gun safety legislation.

Pass a resolution to condemn Tom Malinowski and the other members of Congress who opposed this common sense gun safety measure, thereby putting all New Jerseyeans and their families at risk.

On gun-control, McCann tries to have it both ways.

When phonies want to appear as though they support the Second Amendment, they have a nice photograph taken of themselves with a firearm of some kind.  So following in the footsteps of John Kerry and Barack Obama, candidate John McCann posted a photo of himself playing with a gun.

(FYI:  Gilson works for McCann.  One lies, the other swears by it.)

All this play-acting aside, when John McCann was asked to fill out a questionnaire that would put in writing where he stood on the issues affecting the Second Amendment, hunting, school safety, and such -- McCann refused.  He will show up and spew some b.s. (so long as he isn't video-recorded) and take a picture, but he won't put in writing where he stands.

McCann dissed the NRA when they asked him to step up and tell them where he stood on the issues of importance to their members.  McCann wants it both ways.  He wants NRA votes and Brady Campaign votes.  That's dishonest.

Typical lawyer?  Well, there are good, pro-Second Amendment attorneys out there, so we think it is more a case of typical urban political machine lawyer.

Candidate John McCann served as the right-hand-man to the Democrat Sheriff of Bergen County (according to the Bergen Record).  He's the guy who switched Bergen County from GOP red to Democrat blue.  In 2016, the Sheriff ran on a ticket headed by Democrats Hillary Clinton for President and Josh Gottheimer for Congress.  John McCann worked for the Democrat then, celebrated that victory with his boss, and continued to work for the Democrat until late last year, when he departed to run for Congress as a Republican.

Why would McCann do such a thing?  He had 167,000 reasons a year plus benefits.  That was reason enough for McCann.

John McCann has been in bed with Democrats for years.  A case in point is John McCann's sneaky little way of getting contributions to Democrat candidates.  Take this example from Passaic County.

McCann's wife used her maiden name and her office address in New York City to slip $1,000.00 to a Democrat running in Wayne Township.  Here is a copy of the report, filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (NJELEC):

SINGLE CONTRIBUTOR VIEW

John McCann is a phony -- a b.s. artist.  He is supported by corrupt convicts and thug life.  Politics is worse for his presence on a ballot.

Tom Malinowski thinks Americans are the real terrorists

Congressional candidate Tom Malinowski sent out an email blast on Friday that began with the subject line, "the real national threat."  After opening it, Malinowski made it clear that he considers us -- the American people -- the "real" threat.

Yes, we know.  Sure, anyone who lived through September 11th knows that the real threat to our national security is the single-mom night manager at McDonalds who keeps a handgun because the police response times don't give her the edge she needs to stay un-raped or un-murdered in the lousy neighborhood she can afford to raise her family in.  And she's a whole lot more threatening than those Russians with all those nukes or China with all our debt.  Heck, she's what a state department boy like Tom Malinowski would call "an existential threat".

This was Tom Malinowski writing to the people he has deigned to represent:  "I’ll keep this short—I’m getting ready to head down to Washington, DC for tomorrow’s March for our Lives, to stand with our students as they call for an end to violence in their schools and communities."

That's right.  Tom Malinowski was heading back home -- to Washington, DC, where he's lived for nearly a decade, voted in elections, and where he owns his home and pays property taxes.  He even gets a break on his property taxes for being a resident of Washington, DC.  Of course, he would hop on a train and stand with the students in DC because... he knows their parents, they are his neighbors, they're the people he likes to hang with.

Malinowski then asks us to share a letter that he's signed with a bunch of DC insiders that calls on Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Attorney General Jeff Sessions to elevate the threat posed by our single-mom to first and foremost -- above that posed by North Korea, Russia, Iran, China, Hezbollah, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, and Islamic State.  And speaking of Islamic State, these creatures who signed the letter with Tom Malinowski represent some of the bloodiest people in Washington.

Whether by design or by accident, many of Malinowski's fellow signers have caused the death or displacement of millions of people.  There's the former Under Secretary of State for Whoops We Made a Mistake (and sorry, you died).  The former Executive Secretary of Massive Screw-ups and Sorry about the Massacre.  The former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Lack of Policies.  And here's the former Special Representative for Taking His Eye Off the Ball (and whoops, here's ISIS!).  The list goes on and on, but between them there is a whole lot of death and misery that they must be called to account for.  Oh, business as usual in Washington, DC?  Can't blame the white collar bosses, can we?  Let's find some police, err.... soldiers to blame it on.

We're shocked that you didn't let Andy Kim sign the letter.  What, too junior a screw-up?  Wouldn't let him sign 'til his next birthday?  We know he tried to horn in.

Tom Malinowski even called semi-automatic scary rifles "weapons of war" -- which indicates that Tommy has never been to war.  Actual war.  He might have helped plan it for others, but not for him.  Being part of the club does have its privileges.

So people, here is how Tom Malinowski ended his missive to his district:  "Before you head to a March in your own community, share our letter—and consider writing and publishing your own, in collaboration with members of your community."

Yes, my people, you "head to a March in your own community" like Jersey or some stuff like that.  I'm going to my community.  And while you're at it, why don't you collaborate with "members of your community"... not mine, yours.  Because I know who I represent.  It's all those DC moes on that letter.

Yes, Tom Malinowski is a callous knucklehead... but he's laughing at us, just the same.

Message from the Kids Rally: Tomorrow belongs to me

"We are the voices of the new generation... We want change, and those who try to stop us cannot stand in our way. We will outnumber you, we will outvote you, and we will outlive you." (High School student, March 24, 2018, Newton, NJ)

This has all happened before.  The same words were used by another generation of students who demanded security over freedom.  They ended up with neither.

What began as a modernist dream ended in retching sadness. 

"I have a message for all of those politicians... Your thoughts and prayers are not going to stop this from happening over and over again, like it has for the past 20 years." (Ibid)

Yes.  We are going to need to address our rotting culture.  A culture, by the way, that many of those young marchers have totally bought into. 

Twenty years ago... In the aftermath of the Columbine shootings, President Bill Clinton first highlighted the problem of violence in our culture and how it was being marketed for profit.  Psychologists had long noted how violent media content acts like a drug on childhood development, chemically altering a child's brain. 

It was President Clinton who pointed out that study after study, and the marketing documents of the entertainment industry itself, all pointed to the entertainment industry's premeditated marketing of violence to children and their undeveloped brains.  All the evidence was there.  Then he went further and ordered a study by the Federal Trade Commission.  The study, released on September 11, 2000, can be accessed below:

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2000/09/ftc-releases-report-marketing-violent-entertainment-children

In response, the entertainment industry increased its campaign contributions by 1,000 percent and spent hundreds of millions on lobbying and soft money to convince Congress to forget every study it had ever read.  Then September 11, 2001, occurred and concerns over media violence were ignored in the run-up to war.  Some in the entertainment industry never forgot, and when another Clinton ran for President, they derailed her by supporting a first-term senator named Barack Obama. 

Does our young high school student really believe that government will be able to eliminate the illegal possession of firearms any better than it has eliminated the illegal possession of narcotics?  Is there any high school in America free from illegal drug use?

President Richard Nixon declared war on drugs in 1971.  That's before most parents of today's high schoolers were born.  Are we any closer to winning that war -- or have we started to surrender, making up reasoning for decriminalization of those things long warned against?

Gun-free school zones have been disastrous failures.  Will trying to make all of America "gun-free" fare any better?  Instead of carrying the agenda of pre-existing movements, like the anti-NRA Brady bunch, shouldn't students be separating themselves from the failed paradigms of the past?

Of course, that would take thinking in place of emotion and a "be-in" is always cooler than a think-in.  Rallies, like dance parties, stir the emotions.  And the emotions of the young have always been a target for hijacking and abuse by political authoritarians.

If you want to protect children in schools make that the priority.  In other nations, including those on the front line in the battle with terrorism, school shootings are rare.  Despite schools being a prime target for terror attacks, in Israel there have been just six attacks on schools since 1974. 

America doesn't have Hamas or the Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades or Palestinian Islamic Jihad operating on its borders -- so why does America do such a poor job protecting our schools when other nations, in active battle with terrorist groups, manage it so much better?  Is it simply the case that other nations face facts, while we prefer to bask in emotion and the idea that "it shouldn't happen here" in exceptionalist America? 

We are going to be looking very hard at this and passing along ideas for solutions.  We invite commentary and participation from all.

Sen. Weinberg's son advocates gun violence

Hey, it is his right to postsomething in bad taste, but this does raise the question:  Just who is Momma Weinberg to lecture us?

Daniel J. Weinberg, the middle-aged son of New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, is clearly no fan of Republican front-runner and presumptive nominee Donald Trump.

The Violent May 5th post by Daniel J Weinberg was open to public view for 19 days, and though Weinberg is the son of a powerful New Jersey Democrat, no one in the media seemed to notice… or at least they, didn’t seem to care.

Shortly after Marcus Max commented on the post, noting that Weinberg was advocating for gun violence against those with whom he disagrees politically, an embarrassed Weinberg apparently made his Facebook profile private and/or deleted the violent image advocating that Republican front-runner Trump commit suicide.

Unfortunately for Weinberg, Max made screen captures first.

Daniel J. Weinberg’s mother, New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, is among the most radical gun control supporters in not just New Jersey, but the United States.

Courtesy of Bob Owens @ bearingarms.com

The Nastiness of Senator Loretta Weinberg

Every day, thousands of fellow human beings suffer household accidents.  Most involve falls -- in the bathtub, shower, on the stairs, or when improperly using a step stool or ladder.  Others are injured while using appliances and tools -- electric saws, nail guns, and the like.  All of these are personal tragedies for the people involved, which often involve one family member injuring another, like when an 11-year-old daughter accidentally ran over her mother with the family SUV.  The two were in the car together, the mother got out to check on something, the car accelerated over her and the mother was pronounced dead at the scene.  Her daughter and her other children were deeply traumatized by the tragedy.

Yesterday, a mother was accidentally shot in the back by her 4-year-old.  It seems she was driving her car, her son strapped into a child seat, and she made the mistake of leaving a loaded firearm where the child could find it.  The firearm was legal and was being transported legally.  Nevertheless, it was a careless and stupid mistake and one for which the mother has grievously paid.  She survived and is in stable condition.

To avoid such tragedies, young children must be carefully monitored.  They must be prevented from touching hot surfaces in the kitchen, electric outlets, power tools, sharp implements, and firearms.  Parents must be very careful with children around plastic bags and water -- even an inch or two in a bathtub can cause a child to drown.

This is not how Senator Weinberg reacted to the news of this tragedy.  Instead, she "celebrated" it, posted it on her Facebook page as an "I told you so" -- because the accident involved a gun.  Senator Weinberg politicized a family's tragedy.  She allowed her ideology to get the better of her humanity.

Senator Weinberg says she hates guns.  She would limit the ability of people of a lower socio-economic class than her to have firearms for self-protection.  But as a member of the Legislature, she enjoys the protection of men with guns.  Lots and lots of them. 

In America, the only real crime is not to have money.  If you are a billionaire pedophile and convicted sex offender, like Jeffrey Epstein, you can expect to be forgiven by the rich and powerful.  The good times roll on like before and the likes of Bill Clinton, Katie Couric, George Stephanopoulos, and Charlie Rose party with you as though nothing happened.  Men with guns guard your private island, your many yachts, your private jets, and your person.  Those guns are apparently okay by the likes of Senator Weinberg.  Epstein is rich, a celebrity, and, therefore, worthy of the protection afforded by the gun.

But if you happen to be a plain-living plebian, a working class nobody, you are not worthy.  You must rely on the response time of your local police.  Yes, those same police who have been demoralized and demonized by the very political class that seeks to take away your right to protect yourself.  "Don't worry," they say, "It's the job of the police to protect you -- and if they attempt to do so, we'll have them up on charges quick as a whistle."  It's a real Catch-22. 

America is the world's largest consumer of private military and security services.  It is a $350 billion market.  That's a lot of security for some.  It's also a lot of guns, but the political class approves of these guns because of who it protects. 

Face it, Senator Weinberg, Michael Bloomberg, Mayor Fulop. . . they don't care about you.  You have nothing they want.  You are not rich enough, powerful enough, influential enough, or cool enough to matter to them.  You don't merit protection or the means of self-protection.   Can't you hear them?  They're telling you to "Drop Dead"!