When most people go to work, they do their job. Not the New Jersey Legislature, however, unless their job is to ban whatever is "bad" for us. The most recent proposed ban on .50 caliber rifles and handguns is just another example of political grandstanding by the members of the Legislature. A ban on a .50 caliber "assault rifles" will provide zero reduction in crime. I can find only been two recorded instances in the United States where a .50 caliber rifle was fired during a criminal act. Ever.
Consider consumer appliance electrocutions account for several hundred U.S. deaths annually, according to Consumer Product Safety Commission. Water related deaths are in the thousands annually. Murders consisted of 16,692 deaths in 2005, according to FBI statistics, yet none of those were due to a .50 caliber assault rifle.
The New Jersey Legislature still feels it is doing its job by banning these guns, however. With the growing burden of skyrocketing property tax, the Legislature would rather write a bill to ban a gun that has never been used to commit a murder in the United States. The lawmakers know this, yet they still push for such pointless legislation.
Gregory Paw, the director of the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, said the weapon is evil and that insurgents in Iraq have used the weapon. The insurgents in Iraq have also used just about every other caliber of gun created since World War II.
Fertilizers and ammonia have been used to make bombs, and cell phones have been used to detonate them. According to the director's logic, we should ban them, as they are evil. Since personal airplanes can be used by terrorists against us, we should ban them as well. Sound ridiculous? Well, after the proposed ban on bicycling and using a cellular phone, anything is possible.
The New Jersey Legislature, little by little, is eroding the freedoms enjoyed by its citizens. By pushing bans that adversely affect only a small portion of its population, the New Jersey Legislature can proceed to enact freedom-stripping legislation with little resistance. Perhaps New Jersey can turn its attention to other matters, like things that have at least some importance such as property taxes, the budget deficit or pay-to-play enforcement, rather than trying to ban a rare gun with virtually no criminal history in the United States, simply for the sake of recognition.
Daniel J. Casaburi is a Rutgers College junior majoring in economics.
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