Law Shield notes that a recent lawsuit filed in New Jersey by the Brady Campaign has potentially catastrophic effects for gun ownership in the state.
The Brady Campaign, joined by the Mercer County chapter of the Million Mom March, seeks to force the state attorney general to take the first step in the implementation of the Garden State’s 2002 “smart gun” law by submitting reports on the retail availability of “personalized handguns.”
The law says that every six months, the Attorney General must submit reports on the retail availability of “personalized handguns.” Once the Attorney General submits a report indicating that “personalized handguns” are available for retail sale, 24 months later the Attorney General must generate a list of such guns for purchase; six months after that (30 in total), no manufacturer, wholesaler or retailer can sell, assign or otherwise transfer any handgun unless it is a “personalized handgun” or antique handgun.
The German-made Armatix .22-caliber iP1 pistol debuted at Oak Tree Gun Club in California but was quickly pulled from the shelves due to customer complaints.
Engage Armament, a Maryland gun store, also announced it would sell the iP1, but the store owner decided against it after he, too, heard from his customers.
In both cases, gun owners correctly saw the iP1 as a threat to conventional armament in gun-hostile states. This is because the New Jersey law defined “retail availability” as: “at least one manufacturer delivering at least one production model of a personalized handgun to a registered or licensed wholesale or retail dealer in New Jersey or any other state.”
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms calls the Brady suit “a back-door gun ban,” and we’re inclined to agree. It could ultimately lead to an end of consumer choice in the purchase or sale of handguns, in New Jersey, unless they incorporate whatever “smart gun” technology exists.
Scott Bach, executive director of the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, said New Jersey’s smart-gun law “forces you to use an unproven technology to defend your life, and then exempts the state from liability when the gun goes ‘click’ instead of ‘bang.’ If it’s such a great idea, then law enforcement shouldn’t be exempt, and the free market should be able to determine its viability.”
Would you try an Armatix if it were available where you live?
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