For the second time in a week the Advertiser-News has suggested Vernon residents would like to circumvent gun laws and have a Second Amendment Sanctuary Resolution passed. In the latest article titled “Vernon residents call for sanctuary resolution” there is even a petition of 500 names mentioned. 500 names? The last I looked Vernon has 25 THOUSAND people living in it. Does the 2 percent of the population on this petition really represent the town of Vernon?
During the last 10 years there have been 224 mass shootings that have killed 1,284 people and wounded another 938. One in four of those killed were children. In fact, guns are the second leading cause of deaths of children in the U.S. The latest polls by the Pew Research Center and Gallup say that 60 percent of the American population want stricter gun laws and that percentage number has increased year over year the last 3 years. In an NPR poll the number has increased to 75 percent.
In 54 percent of those mass shootings the shooter exhibited dangerous warning signs before the shooting. The N.J. Red Flag Laws are designed to alert the appropriate people and get the guns out of those people’s hands. “Under New Jersey's red flag law, a judge may issue a gun violence restraining order authorizing the police to confiscate a person's firearms if the judge determines that the person poses a significant risk of personal injury to himself or others.”
This is a law that’s in place to protect us, especially our children. Why are you saying this is a bad thing? It is time to put this Second Amendment argument to bed. Nobody is suggesting that you can’t own a gun. Nobody is suggesting you can’t hunt or get a hand gun to protect yourself. However, the 2nd Amendment was written almost 250 years ago. It was a different time. There were no police forces to protect the population. Even conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in 2008 wrote
“ "Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited... nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms."
The Red Laws are designed to protect us, especially our kids. They are not about taking your gun away.
Don Cannon
Vernon