It looks like a postcard sent out by alarmists – STOP ILLEGAL GUNS NOW!!!
On the back of the postcard is the name and address of the person responsible for sending it out to more than 50,000 Jersey City residents: Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, City Hall, 280 Grove St., Jersey City, NJ 07302.
As it turns out, the postcard unfolds into a letter from Healy asking recipients to fill out the accompanying card at the bottom with their name, address, telephone number, and e-mail, and send it back to City Hall.
Healy seeking support for the “One Gun A Month” Bill currently up for a vote in the state Senate. It is legislation that stems from a Jersey City ordinance passed last year by the City Council.
The local ordinance limits dealers and buyers in Jersey City to the sale or purchase of no more than one handgun every 30 days, except for members of law enforcement agencies and state or local correctional facilities.
But in December of 2006, the ordinance was overturned by Hudson County Superior Court Judge Maurice Gallipoli, who ruled that it subjected gun dealers and buyers in Jersey City to a different standard than their counterparts in the rest of the state.
That was when local state legislators such as Assemblyman Joan Quigley (D-32nd Dist.) and former State Senator and Bayonne Mayor Joseph Doria championed Healy’s cause by sponsoring the bill.
It was approved in the Assembly in June by a 51-25 vote, but there is concern by Quigley that it may not even come up for a vote in the Senate during the current legislative session that ends on Jan. 7.
Thus, it would have to be introduced again for a vote in the Assembly in the next legislative session starting on Jan. 8.
3,000 send it back
Healy said last week that more than 3,000 of the letters came back to City Hall as of last week.
He said he received mostly positive responses, including one woman who wrote an interesting reply. “She listed the names of friends and relatives who were shot and injured by gunshot,” Healy said.
He is optimistic that they will convince Senate legislators to move forward in passing the bill. He said he plans to address the Senate and present the letters at one of the three remaining dates in the current session.
What’s behind the legislation?
Healy stated in his letter, “The rationale behind the ordinance was that individuals who purchase handguns in bulk are frequently what are known as ‘straw purchasers,’ people who legally purchase a gun and then transfer it to someone who is prohibited from purchasing a gun, usually because of prior criminal convictions.”
The “one gun a month” legislation continues one of Healy’s passions as an elected official – gun control. In particular, it’s stemming the flow of illegal guns into Jersey City and throughout the state.
Healy has also pursued measures that require gun owners to report a lost or stolen gun to the police within 48 hours, and prohibit the possession of low-grade, lightweight firearms known as “Saturday Night Specials.
He also initiated a gun buy-back program in January 2005 that saw approximately 900 guns turned in at various sites in Jersey City.
He is also one of the early members of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition, founded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.
But his fight to stop illegal guns has met with opposition from various gun rights advocates, including longtime Jersey City gun dealer Frank Caso and the New Jersey chapter of the National Rifle Association (NRA).
They have argued that it would infringe on their Second Amendment right to bear arms and that Healy’s objective to stop the flow of illegal guns as a way of lowering crime would be better served if there were tougher sentences for those involved in shooting crimes.
Wants it passed soon
Healy said the letters were first sent out in late November to all registered voters and started coming back to City Hall on Dec. 6.
He said he realized there would be “some resistance” from representatives out of rural areas of the state, but believes most of the legislators in the Senate will come to an agreement and vote “handily” in favor of the legislation.
“We think by and large, the people of this state and the representatives they send down to Trenton realize we need to do something about illegal guns,” Healy said.
However, Quigley said last week she was “hopeful but worried” about the legislation.
“The legislature is focused on so many issues, that this isn’t rising to the surface,” Quigley said. “Many of the legislators think it is really a city problem.”
Quigley also said there was heavy lobbying by the NRA and other gun rights groups that has slowed down the legislation in the Senate.
“There were two types of opposition – there were the people who just like buying lots of guns, and there were the Second Amendment rights people who didn’t want us to trample on their constitutional rights,” Quigley said. Quigley finds hope in the fact that the “one gun a month” legislation is being considered for inclusion as one of many bills as part of an anti-crime package to put forward next year by Gov. Jon Corzine and Attorney General Anne Milgram.
Local opponents
Some interviewed for this article said they either saw the letter and didn’t pay attention, or hadn’t opened it.
One who did receive it at his home was Lorenzo Richardson, an accountant for the Urban League of Hudson County and aide to City Councilwoman Viola Richardson (who is a relative). Richardson also lost a cousin, Michael James Taylor, in Jersey City in July 2004 when young Taylor was shot as the result of mistaken identity.
Richardson said he had not filled out the form, but he plans to do, as the issue personally impacts him.
“What’s really the motivation to the resistance?” Richardson said. “Those who are pushing for it not to happen, they are not thinking of the human factor.”
Richardson continued, “I realize the biggest problem is why those on a federal level don’t do something about this problem, but you have to give the mayor credit for trying to deal with this problem.”
Another who got the letter was Frank Caso, who owns Caso’s Gun-A-Rama on Danforth Avenue in Jersey City. Caso was referred to in the letter as the “Jersey City gun dealer” who challenged the ordinance in court and won. “I have nothing against the mayor, but he shouldn’t be wasting the taxpayers’ money on this letter,” Caso said. “How much do people have to be told that the state of New Jersey has some of the toughest [gun] laws in the country?”
Caso is referring to the New Jersey state law that requires gun buyers to go through a state-based criminal background check in addition to the federal NICS check, and it also requires handgun buyers to obtain a license from law enforcement prior to purchasing a handgun.
Caso said he sees it as a “political thing” on the part of Healy and other politicians.
“Put more policemen on the streets and get these [criminals] off the streets, and crime will go down,” Caso said.
Comments on this story can be sent to rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com