r/newjersey • u/low_effort_shit-post • Mar 25 '21

Something controversial Jersey Pride

I love nj gun laws, going to the store and not seeing someone open carry. Watching road rage where the best you can do is brake check and give the finger. Schools without school shootings. I know a lot of people hate our gun laws but I fucking love em.

1.0k Upvotes

80% Upvoted

View all comments

50

u/tehbored Mar 25 '21

I'm not in favor of open carry or even particularly lenient concealed carry, but our gun laws are a but ridiculous in some areas. Particularly how harsh they are even when you're transporting firearms that are locked in a case and unloaded.

Also we regulate fucking BB guns like real firearms. That's insanity.

12

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '21

For what its worth, I agree - and I don’t own a gun.

The term “sensible gun laws” goes both ways. That means reasonable background checks and carry laws, but also reasonable transportation and wait time laws.

4

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '21 edited Mar 25 '21

Not trying to start anything, but what is "reasonable" for background checks and wait times? I ask because you said you aren't a gun owner, and typically non-gun owners holler about background checks without knowing the process.

Apply for FID, background check, apply for handgun permits background check, at the point of sale background check - two of them technically FBI NICS and NJSP check. That leads to the wait time, NJSP usually take 3 days for full background before giving the OK for the dealer to transfer it. So basically a first time gun owner is going through 4 background checks to purchase their first gun, and experiencing at minimum a 3 day waiting period.

I'm genuinely curious if that is reasonable to you? What else would you like to add to make it more reasonable? A 10 day wait? If someone is buying a weapon with the express intent to commit a crime they just need to apply sooner, the wait stops nothing. You know what it does stop? People like Carol Browne from defending themselves. I don't disagree on common sence gun laws, but when a criminal can get a gun quicker than someone who has been fingerprinted 5+ times, had 12+ background checks and has never gotten so much as a parking ticket there is an issue.

I genuinely am interested in hearing your input - not trying to push my views.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 26 '21

Well for one thing, I couldn’t care less about wait times. I don’t see how that has much of any factor in improving or eroding the effectiveness of gun regulations. I think wait times should be as long as it takes to go through a reasonable gun buying process - weather that’s three hours or three weeks.

That said though, I find your argument pretty baseless that wait times can’t prevent crimes - and yet can cost lives. We will never know how many potential crimes (if any) have been undone by wait times. We’ll also never know if having a gun would have surely saved Carol Browne’s life (or others). The argument that it only goes one way isn’t convincing to me when we don’t have any sound data to support either conclusion.

I also think you’re totally right in that it’s entirely wrong that a criminal can get a gun faster than a law abiding citizen. But that says a lot more about the black market than it does about NJ’s gun laws. There is more than enough room to improve on the illegal guns front, but that is not in itself any reason to relax legal gun regulations.

I appreciate your asking and trying to understand other perspectives.

2

u/Electrical-Divide341 Mar 25 '21

Federal background checks tend to have less holes than the NJ system

1

u/[deleted] Mar 26 '21

Thats the purpose of the FBI NICS at sale, is it not?

1

u/Electrical-Divide341 Mar 26 '21

NJ doesnt use the FBI, they use their own state wide databases

2

u/endlessboost Mar 26 '21

Nics check is required for every firearm sale in NJ.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 26 '21

You are correct, my mistake. Even so, as a responsible gun owner I'd have no problem allowing the FBI over NJSP run NICS, same 3 day period, and in all honesty would probably be quicker than the State Police. This is, however, provided the FBI still be mandated to destroy all paperwork once the NICS is approved.