Jersey City Police Chief Thomas Comey could not make it more clear. Pump action shotguns are "assault weapons."
"This weapon is manufactured for nothing other than to hunt man."
See for yourself:
Left unsaid is why he considers weapons "manufactured for nothing other than to hunt man" suitable for police work:
"It's used as part of a tactical equipment for law enforcement agencies in this country."
Translation: We're the "Only Ones" who should have pump-action shotguns. You cannot.
Why? Because:
"It's in the hands of someone who's already been convicted of certain persons not to possess a firearm."
What?
But OK, let's assume we understand what he just said. And:
He said that authorities traced the gun's serial number and were reasonably certain that at some point the weapon was purchased legally in the South.
Aren't all guns manufactured by a firearms company legally owned at "at some point"? Seeing as how ATF's last released Firearms Trace Data report for New Jersey places "time to crime rates for firearms with a New Jersey recovery" at 12.38 years (over two years longer than the national average of 10.33 years), the only conclusion we can reach is Chief Comey doesn't want anyone who is not working for law enforcement to have any guns ever.
His absurd blaming of guns that "take lives" and "threaten police officers" instead of blaming criminal individuals demonstrates that. As does his failure to relate New Jersey's already draconian gun laws, where:
[I]t is unlawful to knowingly possess any rifle or shotgun without having first obtained a Firearms Purchaser Identification Card (FID)...
You see what's going on here.
But wait! He said "tactical shotguns."
Functionally they are no different from any other pump-action shotgun. Sure, they can have convenience or cosmetic features: rails for a sight or light, special grips and stocks, shell holders, heat shields to keep you from burning your hand...
The barrel of guns sold in the "civilian" market can't be any shorter than "legal" length without being registered with and taxed by ATF, and you load the next shell into the chamber by racking the slide, just like with any other pump-action shotgun. And you can load bird shot, buck shot, slugs...just like any other shotgun.
"Somebody's gotta wake up and smell the coffee and say 'enough is enough.'"
That would be people like me, chief. We have. Enough is enough and we will not disarm. Believe it.
And you asleep-at-the-switch "sportsmen" who haven't come to the realization yet that you're also on the menu, take note.
One more point I couldn't help notice: The "authorized journalists" at MyFoxNY.com took it on themselves to edit the chief's mangling of the language:
"We should stop being afraid of the NRA and start being afraid [for] our own rights," Comey said.
That's not what he said. Listen carefully to the video.
Interesting Freudian slip, don't you think?
------------
A gun owner's nightmare
Oregon Firearms Federation tells us:
The nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court of the United States has revealed itself to be as bad as any of us could have imagined.
Click here to read why.
------------
Bad for gun owners
Gun Owners of Nevada give us their take on Sotomayor.
Click here.
------------
And see what the Gun Rights Examiners have written about it here.
Check out the latest from other Gun Rights Examiners: