The New York Times headline screams A Novel Gun Control Strategy: Pressure Banks and Retailers. Gov. Philip D. Murphy, a Democrat, wants manufacturers and sellers to take steps to keep guns from falling into the wrong hands.
Novel indeed. ‘”The plan did not include many details” so says the piece and the executive order the governor claims needs no legislative approval. The operative sentence includes “more stringent restrictions such as convictions involving domestic abuse, among other red flags.” Among other red flags?? …Another requirement “an applicant must be of “good character and good repute in the community” in which he or she lives.
“History of mental illness” Who is going to be the arbiter of that one?
How is that Red Flag going in states the have implemented it? Red Flag law turns deadly – Officer kills man
FERNADALE, Md. (WJZ) — A 61-year-old man is dead after he was shot by an officer trying to enforce Maryland’s new ‘red flag’ law in Ferndale Monday morning.
Anne Arundel County Police confirmed the police-involved shooting happened in the 100 block of Linwood Avenue around 5:17 a.m.
According to police, two officers serving a new Extreme Risk Protective Order (Red Flag Law), a Maryland protective order to remove guns from a household, shot and killed the man listed on that order.
But back to the Times story:
MORRISTOWN, N.J. — New Jersey will stop doing business with gun manufacturers and retailers that fail to adopt policies that go beyond federal laws, like conducting expanded background checks, to stop guns from falling into the wrong hands, becoming the first state to take such stringent action against the firearms industry.
The state will also apply pressure on major financial institutions, seeking information from banks that do business with New Jersey about their relationships and policies involving gunmakers and sellers.
The state, which says it pays more than $1 billion in bank fees every year, could use the disclosure requirements to decide whether to continue doing business with financial firms.
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Several major banks have taken matters into their own hands, cutting off banking and credit card services to gun retailers and stopping the lending of money to manufacturers who do not abide by age limits and background checks.
Now New Jersey has essentially decided to make its own rules to restrict the flow of guns, and officials said they hoped it would encourage other liberal states to follow their lead.
Besides expanded background checks, the state will also not do business with retailers who do not adopt similar policies prohibiting firearm sales to those disqualified in New Jersey, which includes more stringent restrictions such as convictions involving domestic abuse, among other red flags.”
Though New Jersey already has strict rules around background checks and people who are forbidden from buying guns in the state, Mr. Murphy is seeking to expand those rules nationwide.
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While the plan did not include many details, officials said that within the next 30 days the state would develop policies on gun sales that would likely be shaped by measures supported by gun control groups.
These include training retail workers to detect straw purchasers and requiring sellers to keep electronic records and perform background checks for private sellers for a small fee. (sure.)
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Mr. Murphy’s action is likely to draw strong pushback from the gun industry and its allies, who have been swift to promise bans and boycotts of companies that have instituted policies aimed at the gun industry.
“That’s something that the governor’s office has to consider,” said Alex Roubian, the president of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society, referring to the possibility of a boycott of New Jersey by firearms manufacturers. “Because if they’re going to put police officers’ lives in danger because of politics, that’s on the governor, not on the gun industry.”
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Mr. Murphy and the governors of 11 other states, including New York and California, sent a letter on Tuesday to President Trump and Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, demanding that they support universal background checks and so-called red flag laws to prevent people who pose a risk to themselves or others from buying firearms.
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While New Jersey has some of the country’s strictest gun control laws, Mr. Murphy’s executive order seeks to take on an issue that the state, like other states with similar laws, struggles with — stemming the flow of illegal guns into New Jersey.
FAKE NEWS:
Citing a study by the Brady Campaign, a gun control organization, the governor’s office said about 5 percent of dealers across the country were responsible for providing 90 percent of the guns used in crimes.
New Jersey’s plan requires retailers to take steps that exceed federal standards to “prevent, detect and screen for the transfer of firearms to straw purchasers or firearm traffickers.” (Ed: In other words, they will put gun dealers out of business by making it otherwise impossible to comply or prohibitively expensive and open them up to endless lawsuits.)
The governor’s office said more specifically that sellers could ensure that the name on the method of payment matched the name of a buyer; that online orders were made by the eventual gun owner; and that buyers were limited to purchasing one firearm every 30 days.
Mr. Murphy’s plan would also seek to prevent the sale of firearms to “prohibited individuals,” which as defined by New Jersey is a broad list. (Just a couple listed):
- Is a “habitual drunkard;”
- no permit to purchase or FPIC shall be issued where the issuance would not be in the interest of the public health, safety or welfare.
- In addition, an applicant must be of “good character and good repute in the community” in which he or she lives.
Aside from people with a history of mental illness and those convicted of crimes related to domestic abuse, it would also include people convicted of any violent crimes and drug dealing, as well as buyers on a terrorist watch list kept by the F.B.I.
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While Citigroup and Bank of America publicly distanced themselves from gun manufacturers last year, many other big firms did not follow suit, in part out of fear of a backlash from Trump administration regulators and conservative states.
New Jersey’s requirement that financial firms disclose their ties to gunmakers could provide the public with new and specific information that some firms have been reluctant to divulge.
Mr. Murphy is hoping that other states, particularly those with large law enforcement budgets like New York, will join his effort. Last year, Mr. Murphy and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York formed a States for Gun Safety coalition that now counts eight states and Puerto Rico as members.
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“With this executive order, Governor Murphy is blazing a new path for states that want gun manufacturers, retailers and financial institutions to take action to help end gun violence,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “And we hope to see other governors quickly follow suit.”
More at the New York times
million doors in our communities, talking to registered voters in their own homes. This coming weekend, and then again on election day, 11,000 ACORN volunteers and workers will be making two separate visits to 2.2 million registered voters in low and moderate income neighborhoods to encourage them to vote. Over the past week, thousands of ACORN members in cities throughout the nation have also gathered together at neighborhood meetings and voting rallies to call attention to and recruit volunteers for Get-Out-the-Vote campaigns. 
BUNKERVILLE | God, Guns and Guts Comrades! 