Common Sense And Leftist Tendencies

Florida: According to Governor Ron DeSantis, a driver in Florida who is surrounded by protestors has the right to hit them and escape to safety if the driver feels threatened. He said, “If you drive off and hit one of these people, that’s their fault for impinging on you.” To most people, that’s common sense. Now let’s look at New Jersey.

New Jersey: Lawmakers in New Jersey are debating Senate Bill 1956 that has recently passed the New Jersey Senate Health, Human Services, and Senior Citizens Committee in a 5-to-3 party line vote -- Democrats for and Republicans against. What does that bill do?

Senate Bill 1956 will change the New Jersey Immunization Information System

If passed, Senate Bill 1956 will change the New Jersey Immunization Information System (NJIIS) from a partial voluntary system to a mandatory system that will include all vaccine recipients regardless of age.

The way the system works now is that New Jersey citizens, born after 1 January 1998, are automatically enrolled in the immunization database unless a parent decides not to enroll their children. An adult vaccine recipient must give explicit consent to be added to the database. The legislation being proposed will remove the age guidelines as well as the requirement for explicit consent.

The proposed bill stems from a Covid-era executive order by Governor Phil Murphy, signed December 2020, just before the FDA granted emergency authorization for the Covid-19 vaccine. That temporary order now threatens to become permanent because Murphy, who cannot seek reelection, is nearing the end of his reign as governor.

Although the bill would not mandate vaccinations or restrict religious or medical or personal exemptions, it does contain a provision that during a public health emergency the state health commissioner can suspend opt-out rights regarding the database for specific vaccines. Critics of the bill say that provision grants authority to override individual choice of being included in a digital list of non-vaccinated and vaccinated people.

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex) feels that automatic enrollment in the vaccine database will enhance public health efficiency and has said, “This ensures accurate immunization records and helps officials identify gaps in coverage.”

It sure will. State officials will know where every non-vaccinated person lives and, if a vaccine is mandated, they’ll know exactly where to find him or her or their children. Jabs will then arrive at their door.

Vaccine databases have been used since the 1990s in states like New York to help move childhood vaccines into “gaps” in coverage by vaccines used to control outbreaks, or threatened outbreaks, of diseases like measles and mumps. Advocates of the right to privacy say that giving New Jersey the power to create a no opt-out vaccine database smacks of a surveillance state that will override individual freedom.

That goes for gun laws too.

New Jersey Gun Laws

By mid 2025, twenty-nine states have enacted permitless carry laws for handguns – sometimes called Constitutional Carry. Those states common sense reflects the growing crime rate in cities and towns that are magnets for Illegal aliens and other criminals. The states allowing Constitutional Carry are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

In contrast, New Jersey has some of the strictest gun laws in the United States, including:

Concealed Carry

• New Jersey is a "shall-issue" state for concealed carry permits. That means if an applicant meets “legal requirements,” the permit must be issued. Nevertheless, if you are planning to carry a concealed handgun in your crime-ridden city, New Jersey police will find you don’t have a “legal requirement” and will deny you the permit.
• As of July 2023, there is a duty to inform a police officer that you're carrying a concealed firearm. Criminals will surely comply.

Open Carry

• Open carry is not permitted in New Jersey.

Purchase Permits

• A permit to purchase a handgun, valid for 90 days, is required for each handgun purchase. Only one handgun can be purchased within a 30-day period. A lifetime purchaser ID card is required to buy rifles, shotguns and handgun ammunition.

Background Checks

• Background checks are required for private gun sales! How does a citizen do a background check?

Waiting Period

• There is a waiting period after purchasing a handgun. At least 7 days must elapse since the date of application for the permit. The waiting period to obtain the permit itself can be as long as 30 days (45 days for non-residents).

Possession on Private Property

• New Jersey allows anyone “legally entitled” to carry a firearm to keep or carry a firearm in his or her place of business, residence, or other land owned or possessed by him or her without a permit. You already know the police interpretation of “legally entitled.”

Handgun Registration

• Firearms registration is voluntary, but handgun purchase permit records are maintained by the New Jersey State Police Firearms Investigation Unit. That means there is a de facto registration for any handguns purchased in New Jersey.

Carry Locations

• Concealed carry is prohibited in bars or restaurants where alcohol is served. A common sense federal judge has overturned this law, and is pending appeal by New Jersey.
• Concealed carry is allowed at roadside rest areas. Of course you must have a New Jersey Permit to Carry Handguns. That’s a Catch 22.

Ammunition Restrictions

• A Firearms Purchaser ID Card, a permit to purchase a handgun, or a carry permit is required to buy handgun ammunition. Hollow-point and armor-piercing ammunition is prohibited.

Magazine Limits

• Handgun magazines must be limited to no more than 10 rounds.

Non-Lethal Weapons

• Non-lethal weapons such as pepper spray are allowed, with canisters not exceeding 3/4 of an ounce. Individuals under 18 or with felony convictions are prohibited from possessing pepper spray.

Knife Laws

• Any legal knife can be carried openly or concealed. But it is illegal to own a gravity knife, switchblade, dirk, dagger, stiletto, or other dangerous knife.

It is common sense to understand that criminals do not apply for state permits when they want a handgun. I believe that the law enforcement community in New Jersey also knows that, and they also knows that an armed citizen is a safe citizen in every respect. They know it just as cops in 29 other states with Constitutional Carry laws know it.

Common sense however, is in very short supply in the New Jersey State House.

Conclusion

If Senate Bill 1956 becomes law it is evidence that, despite spending billions on supporting illegal aliens, Democrat New Jersey intends to become a surveillance state with total control of its American residents. If you are a citizen living in New Jersey, I urge you to call or email your state senator’s office and tell him to vote against the bill.

The steady erosion of your liberties is happening in your New Jersey State House in Trenton. Call your State Senator and urge him to use some common sense!

Chet Nagle is an experienced analyst and commentator on international commerce, geopolitics, national security matters, the Middle East, and strategic communications. He has been on radio, has appeared in documentary films and has been a guest on television news programs. His columns have appeared in the Daily Caller, The Hill, Roll Call, and many other publications. He is a contributing editor for ANDmagazine.com and the European Security & Defense magazine.