N.J. Governor Backs Down from Mandatory Closure of Gun Shops

Politico (Matt Friedman) has the details; you can read more on the Second Amendment lawsuits that had been filed a few days ago and the Department of Homeland Security guidance that Gov. Murphy cited as supporting his new position.

In addition to gun retailers, Murphy said car dealerships will be able to conduct sales online or remotely. Vehicles can be delivered directly to customers or via curbside pickup. Repair and service centers have been allowed to remain open.

Real estate agents can show houses to prospective buyers, but only on a one-to-one basis or to immediate family. Open houses are still banned. And breweries and brew pubs can now deliver to customers' homes, Murphy said.

Comments

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

"Backs Down"?

This blog evidently (1) does not employ a competent, professional editor and (2) can't shake its uniformly partisan nature.

Was the entire budget devoted to the Board of Censors?

[ThePublius]

Not getting it, Arthur. I looked it up. Backs down: intransitive verb: to withdraw from a commitment or position.

What's wrong with that?

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

The headline's implication is unsupported by the report. Journalism 101.

Which, I recognize, means less than nothing to contrarians.

[Dr. Ed]

An imposed ban has been rescinded, what part of that did you miss?

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Get an education, doctor. Start with standard English, focusing on sentence construction and punctuation.

[Absaroka]

NJ seems a little odd. I've heard a lot of anecdata that most of the recent buyers in many states are first time owners (one FFL friend estimated 90%). I was under the impression that in order to buy a gun in NJ one first needed an owner's permit, that typically took 3 months to get (and the processing of which had been shut down), then for a handgun one applied for a purchase permit (also three months) then at the time of sale you had to pass a State Patrol background check (which is shut down).

Can anyone from NJ comment on the accuracy of this? Having the stores open but the background check system shut down seems odd.

(ammo maybe??)

[RestoreWesternHegemony]

It takes anywhere from 20 days to 6 months depending on the jurisdiction. But people who already have FOIDs don't have to do the process again.

[vek]

Just cuz these people are buying them doesn't mean they're walking out the same day!

A YouTube vid I saw from a store owner said some of the dildos were trying to waffle on purchasing the guns when their hold period came up, because they were panic buying... He said "Sure! As long as you pay the doc fee and a restocking fee I'll refund you." Most people just came and picked them up. Even this was a minority, but it shows the type of buyer in at least some cases.

Anyway, a lot of these people might not be able to pickup for a bit, but they went in to get the ball rolling.

[Doug Huffman]

Nice neologism, “anecdata”, clear, concise and correct. More concise and as correct as, “Two personal anecdotes do not data make.”

Thank you. Let us make all of America as wholesome as Absaroka County.

[bernard11]

"Critical infrastructure." What a joke.

Look, if I were governor I'd leave the gun stores open too, not because they are in any sense "critical," but because I would have better things to do than fight lawsuits about it.

[vek]

They are?

You're such a retard. As one store owner said in an interview, a lot of his customers are police and security services. They need to keep up on training, which requires ammo. Let alone if they need/want to purchase a new weapon.

And citizens have every bit as much right to exercise their 2nd amendment rights right now as any other time.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

He's a retard.

You're a bigoted, half-educated, anti-social clinger.

Everyone has problems -- especially you, because you get to spend your life complying obsequiously with the preferences of your betters, thanks to the culture war.

[vek]

Well, at least I had plenty of cash in the bank, 6 months worth of food, medical supplies, tons of weapons and ammo, water filter system... Etc... Long before this stupid shit ever happened.

And at least I will be 100x wealthier than you will ever be when I kick the bucket. Idiots like you think you run the world because the people who ACTUALLY have their shit together have let you get away with murder out of kindness for your soft headed views the last few decades... But that time won't last forever Rev.!

[Dr. Ed]

I was thinking more along the lines of "parts" and "repair."

Like any mechanical device, guns do break and need to be fixed.
For example, I broke the firing pin in my rifle once, I went to a gun store to have it replaced.

[Eddy]

I notice that the original order classifies "liquor stores" under essential retail businesses.

There's also this clause:

"19. Nothing in this Order shall be construed to limit, prohibit, or restrict in any way the operations of newspapers, television, radio, and other media services."

Which makes me wonder what happens if someone wanders around gathering information for his blog, without being employed by a news organization?

https://nj.gov/infobank/eo/056murphy/pdf/EO-107.pdf

[Eddy]

"Don't mind us, me and my friends are doing research for our blog, The Best Liquor Stores in New Jersey."

[ThePublius]

It might not be obvious, but if you close liquor stores, people who are clinical alcoholics will end up in hospitals, and there will be mortality. Unaided withdrawal from alcohol is nearly 100% fatal. (It's actually much worse than withdrawal from opioids, which is nearly 0% fatal.)

[vek]

Mass roll out of the cheap AF antibody tests are the only way we're going to get past this nonsense.

I agreed with shutting down big events, maybe even bars etc... But shutting down everything has gone too far. We need to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed, but keeping them at 50% capacity does nothing. I just talked to an ER doctor in Seattle and she said all the hospitals are basically just chillin', not even close to capacity. And our curve has basically already gone flat.

This effectively means we've over corrected. People NEED to get infected, preferably young healthy people. Then we need to verify who has had it or not. People that have can return to getting shit done. Some of the antibody tests that are already proved effective cost as little as $10 fucking dollars, and give you results at home! No need to even waste a doctors time.

We need that shit rolled out by the 10s of millions ASAP. It's the only way the madness will end.

[Commenter_XY]

We need that shit rolled out by the 10s of millions ASAP.

Abbott Laboratories is doing just that. The first 50K serologic tests go out this week. We are now testing 100K people daily.

Hang in there Vek. In a month, hopefully the worst will have passed, and we can get back to work. I know that I am very, very fortunate to be able to work from home.

[Sarcastr0]

That is phenomenal news.

[vek]

I saw the stuff about Abbot labs.

I even managed to find one available to order NOW at home test, but they were charging out the nose. These cheap tests are going to be what pulls us all out of this situation. IMO the at home aspect will be really important though, because doctors just wouldn't be able to administer enough tests fast enough for it to make a big difference. But the finger pin prick and get instant results tests... Anybody could do that, and quickly.

[RestoreWesternHegemony]

Of course. Right now guns and ammo cost more basically everywhere because of the panic. Us "gun nuts" already have enough and aren't going to go out and pay these inflated prices.

[vek]

I am hoping that at least some of the new gun buyers have it stick in their head that they're not evil, AND that this makes them realize there are legitimate reasons to have self protection.

Guns are an insurance policy... You hope you never need it, but you kinda want it there just in case.

The upshot is guns are ALSO fun as hell to go use, which I can't say about any insurance policy I have ever had!