Those convicted of stealing guns in New Jersey would be more likely to face prison time under bipartisan legislation that was introduced Thursday.
Under New Jersey law, third-and fourth-degree crimes, which includes the theft of items under $75,000, carry a “presumption of non-imprisonment” for first-time offenders. The bill (A2916) would strip away that presumption for someone convicted of stealing a firearm.
“When you take that out, there’s a presumption that there would be incarceration,” said state Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer), a sponsor.
Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick (R-Union), another sponsor, said stolen guns are often used in violent crimes.
“This act is more serious than stealing property. This bill sends a message to criminals that they will face severe consequences for stealing a firearm,” Bramnick said. “This is a necessary step to help curb the incidence of violent crime.”
“I think this is a gun right-left alliance on gun control,” Gusciora said. “We want guns off the streets and they want guns off the streets.”
Is that true? Is that something both sides can agree upon - even the hyper-contentious gun-control fanatics who comment around here?
How about the problem of gun owners who do not secure their guns and thereby make gun theft easier? Even New Jersey, known for its strict gun control has some weak-ass type of safe storage law. It should go much further.
I've got no problem with it. Fits with previous suggestions we've made with regard to targeting actual crimes and making the penalties steeper.
ReplyDeleteIt's just sad that you couldn't go a breath from supporting this law which targets criminals to suggesting another law that also punishes their victims.
The point is, people who are victims of crime can also be criminal themselves. Leaving your guns unsecured in the home should be a crime.
DeleteYour continued blaming of victims isn't winning you any friends.
DeleteYour continued support of idiot gun owners who do not secure their guns in the home is costing lives.
DeleteYour continued support of idiot gun owners who do not secure their guns in the home is costing lives.
DeleteYep, Simon--you have prevented New Jersey from implementing "safe storage" laws oppressive enough to win the Mikeb Seal of Approval.
And thank you for that, Simon. Keep up the good work--out there, laboring all by yourself to stop gun control.
DeleteActually, we're in this with you, of course.
No. Lives are being cost by people who use guns criminally--who sometimes get guns from criminals who steal them from where they have been secured inside a locked, sometimes alarmed container that does not belong to them.
DeleteI encourage the use of safes, but no, I will never support prosecutions of burglary victims for failing to have sufficient matroshkim-like layers of locked containers.
The theft of someone's means of defending her life and liberty should be treated as the serious crime that it is.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of criminalizing "mak[ing] theft easier" would of course be laughable, were it not so evil, and actually the law in some blighted places.
Oh, and Confiscation=Theft Under Color of Law, but I guess the New Jersey legislature is unlikely to agree with that.
You just couldn't accept a moment of agreement, Mikeb. You had to find something silly to bring in. This is why no deals are possible with gun control freaks. You come close to being reasonable, then you veer off into foolishness.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, please allow me to commend you, and admit my great surprise, over your startling honesty here (emphasis added):
ReplyDeleteIs that something both sides can agree upon - even the hyper-contentious gun-control fanatics who comment around here?
Of course, it would seem that you are better equipped to answer that question than we reasonable people on the pro-rights side are.
HA! I missed that typo!
DeleteMike, Rule one of insulting--Be sure of your target!
Oh, that is funny - and embarrassing.
DeleteI'm ok with tougher sentences, particularly if they give it some teeth by making room in the prisons by not locking up people who have done no harm, or whom the state is trying to save from themselves.
ReplyDeleteRegarding New Jersey's weak-ass safe storage laws, I keep telling you that there isn't a single place in the nation with anti-theft laws. Even DC has a provision like NJ where the provision is null if the gun is stolen via a break in.
I hear ya, man. I am the cutting edge of avant-garde gun control.
DeleteBut, what happened to your other refrain that guns are just like any other tool or guns are property just like anything else? Why should stealing one "tool" or one "piece of property" be more harshly punished?
ReplyDeleteI think it should of course, but I never tried to push that nonsense that a gun is just a simple inanimate object like any other.
Guns are more expensive. So that ups the penalty for theft.
DeleteYou raise a good point, Mike--a case could be made for making it a punishment for stealing "weapons" and defining what is included in the term for purposes of this statute.
DeleteWe have more harsh penalties for assault with a weapon (classed as aggravated assault in most jurisdictions' terminology) because of the greater danger involved when a tool is used to assault someone, be it a crowbar, baseball bat, knife, or gun.
The reason I said we'd need a specific definition in this case is because it's harder to tell, at the front end, what they're going to use items for. A baseball bat could certainly qualify as a deadly weapon in an aggravated assault case, so might a letter opener, but we might not want to make the enhanced punishment overbroad by covering these tools.
Another possible rationale would be that we're trying to curb a black market in stolen guns and we're less concerned that there's a black market in stolen hammers. We don't want people stealing people's Viagra or other prescription drugs and selling them on the black market any more than we want them stealing and selling prescription pain killers, but because the black market in prescription opiates is more of a problem than a black market in prescription beta blockers we might try to curb it through enhanced penalties.