New Jersey spends $324,000 to promote Citizen Disarmament

Photo credit New Jersey Attorney General

Mercer County, New Jersey has spent about $324,000 to pay people to turn in firearms on the 24th and 25th of January. The turn in was a "no questions asked" event that brought in over 2,600 guns, mostly hunting rifles and shotguns, with a few rarities and guns illegal in New Jersey. Sales of guns are highly regulated in New Jersey which has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country. Private sales of handguns are forbidden, with a separate permit required for each handgun purchased.

Purchasers of rifles and shotguns must have a New Jersey FID card and must provide the seller with a written form assuring them that the FID holder is eligible to buy the gun.

There were no reports of private sellers paying market rates for the guns that were turned in.

The term "buy back" is emotionally charged and irrational. The guns in question were never owned by the people "buying them back" in the first place. Turn in is a more logical description.

Vincent Cisternino claims that the "buy backs" are illegal under New Jersey law:

"Senator Turner has failed to read NJ law. New Jersey law provides for the voluntary surrender of firearms only when the person giving up the firearms first gives written notice to the chief of police where he resides or the state police superintendent. Anonymous surrender is not authorized and in fact violates the law. The same law authorizes only the local police chief or the state police superintendent to receive surrendered guns. (See N.J.S.A. § 2C:39-12.)

A gun buy back program is just that, a gun purchase. The purchase of firearms in New Jersey is strictly prohibited except for licensed dealers and individuals with a handgun purchase permit or firearms ID card. All gun sales are recorded and include the name and address of the seller. Unless there is a federal firearms licensed dealer making purchases with forfeited criminal money, this program is not authorized and illegal under the statute to purchase firearms. The payment of cash for firearms by anyone other than a licensed dealer or a permit/ID cardholder is a crime. N.J.S.A § 2C:58-3(a) and (b).

Well I guess when NBC News’ David Gregory nor any employee of the broadcast network were charged for violating the DC city’s gun laws on-air TV. It seems that if your are opposed to firearms, you may violate gun laws. "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others" ~George Orwell."

Link to article, quote in comments

Gun turn in events are political theater designed to make armed citizens appear to be illegitimate, and to make firearms appear to be contraband. Their practical effects are to waste police resources, defraud ignorant gun owners of the market value of their property, and to increase the demand for new guns as they decrease the numbers of used guns on the market.

The idea of destroying valuable property as some sort of sacrifice to political correctness is absurd.

Photo gallery of turned in guns. Interesting:

Photo Gallery of Trenton New Jersey Turn In

Dean Weingarten