An Open Letter to NJ Gov. Chris Christie & Senate President Steve Sweeney (who wants his job so badly he can taste it) explaining some exigencies in the matter of firearm magazine restrictions and The Law of Unintended Consequences.

21 February 2014

Dear Chris and Steve,

It seems that New Jersey is once again poised to take up the tyrant's cudgel when it comes to her citizens' liberty, property and lives and I thought it only polite to write to you with a friendly warning explaining some exigencies in the matter of firearm magazine restrictions and The Law of Unintended Consequences as they apply to you, personally and politically, as well as your state.

My readers in New Jersey apprised me early yesterday of this story: "NJ Legislature Declares War on Millions of Standard Capacity Magazines." (1) This warning was confirmed last night in a story by Daryl Isherwood: "Deal in place to cut ammo magazine limit to 10 rounds." (2) Some of those same readers asked me to write you to comment upon certain things which should be obvious to you bright boys, but which apparently are not. (You will forgive, I hope, if this letter seems a bit hurried. It is. You are in a hurry to strip your citizens of their God-given, natural and inalienable rights and I am in a hurry to be about my smuggling in opposition to it. So many wannabe tyrants, so little time and resources.)

As the gargantuan appetites of both of your political ambitions are legendary (yours, Governor, for the White House and yours, Sen. Sweeney, for the Governor's job) it is remarkable to me that you would bite down hard on the long-proven excrement sandwich that is firearms confiscation (just ask Bill Clinton, who lost the House over it in 1994 and Al Gore, who lost the presidency over it in 2000).

First, Governor, if you sign this new tyrannical monstrosity you can forget ever winning a GOP presidential primary. Period. As in permanent amnesia fuggedaboutit. Now I understand that you both come from a state where collectivism has long ruled, where getting overheard on a hot mic talking of the property and liberty of fellow citizens in terms of "Confiscate -- Confiscate -- Confiscate" bears no political price whatsoever. But do you really think, Chris, that the GOP voters in Iowa and "Live Free or Die" New Hampshire are going to care? Fuggedaboutit.

I think that about sums it up, Governor. I am tempted to say, "you may go now," but then the unintended consequences I am about to explain to Steve may have some interest, because YOU are going to be the one stuck with enforcing this new tyrannical diktat on New Jersey citizens with the threat of state violence at the muzzles of the firearms of the New Jersey State Police -- a dicey proposition at best as I will delineate. On second thought, you'd better stick around.

Now, Steve, have you actually thought through how you're going to get all those magazines you're going to ban? I mean, really? We already know that the current 15 round limit is widely ignored by the previously-law abiding folks that you and your ilk have made criminals. How do you propose to get the rest? Are you really extrapolating from your own cowardice and believing that folks will turn them in JUST BECAUSE YOU SAY SO? And after the first New Jersey citizen is killed in a raid over an additional five rounds of magazine capacity, who do you think people are going to blame? The state trooper who executes him (or, God forbid, his family) or the over-fed, over-inflated collectivist union thug empty suit ego/appetite pitiful-excuse-for-a-human-being who sent him? I'm betting that they blame you, Steve.

This is not without precedent you know, and you have Bill Clinton to thank for it. In 1999, back when he was frustrated with Serbian intransigence over Kosovo, Clinton changed the rules of engagement of the United States military and declared that the politicians, intelligentsia and media supporting an enemy's war effort were now fair game. To that end, he ordered precision guided munitions placed into the homes and buildings of Serbian politicians (and media organizations). This reversed centuries of understanding that kings didn't assassinate other kings because they might just get assassinated right back. The Law of Unintended Consequences decreed that he could get away with such temerity in Serbia, but it was inevitable that other folks would sit up and take notice. (Please see Tyrants beware. 4th Generation Warfare: How the next civil war will be fought. (5))

I mention this not as a threat, but as I said, out of politeness and concern for your well-being. You are moving (as Connecticut, New York, Maryland and Colorado have moved) into an undiscovered country. You have declared your appetite for your fellow citizens' liberty, property and lives. Can you blame them if they take you seriously? As I explained to Michael Lawlor, Connecticut's anti-firearm bully boy the other day:

This is not a threat, of course. Not the personal, actionable threat that you may claim. It ranks right along with -- no, that's wrong, IT IS EXACTLY LIKE -- an ex-con meeting me in the street and pointing to my neighbor's house saying, "Tonight I am going to break in there, kill that man, rape his wife and daughters and steal everything that he is, has, or may become." I warn him, "If you try to do that, he will kill you first. He may not look like much, but I know him to be vigilant and perfectly capable of blowing your head off." That is not a threat from me. It is simply good manners. Consider this letter in the same vein. I am trying to save you from yourself.

For, like that common criminal, you have announced by your unconstitutional law and your public statements in favor of its rigorous enforcement that you have a tyrannical appetite for your neighbors' liberty, property and lives. It doesn't take a crystal ball to see that this policy, if carried to your announced conclusion, will not end well for anybody, but especially for you. To think otherwise is to whistle past the graveyard of our own history. (6)

So, Steve, you do the math. Connecticut has only had a 15% compliance rate with their new semi-auto registration plan (even less with the magazine registration). Just how many of your citizens will refuse to obey? And how many state troopers do you have to enforce this new diktat? Is it starting to look like Little Big Horn? It should. And you are the guy that some of your victims are going to hold as principally responsible for this new tyranny. The Governor, too, if he goes along with this suicidal foolishness.

For my part, I intend to extend my magazine smuggling operation to New Jersey now, and as evidence of my sincerity, I am enclosing to both you and the Guv a standard capacity rifle magazine left over from my Toys for Totalitarians campaign along with the hard-copy of this letter. (7)

If the stories are true -- and I have no doubt that they are, such is the arrogance of your ignorance -- you will have made hundreds of thousands of new criminals and further degraded the respect of your citizens for the rule of law. How long do you think you can rule without the consent of the governed? How long will it be, especially when your state police start killing them over the numbers of rounds in a mechanical device in common usage almost everywhere else in the country? How long?

If you proceed with this new tyranny, I think we're all going to find out.

Have a nice day.

Sincerely,

Mike Vanderboegh

Smuggler, and alleged leader of a merry band of Three Percenters.

P.O. Box 926

Pinson, AL 35126

(1) NJ Legislature Declares War on Millions of Standard Capacity Magazines.

http://www.ammoland.com/2014/02/nj-legislature-declares-war-on-standard-capacity-magazines/#axzz2trGchsxr

(2) Deal in place to cut ammo magazine limit to 10 rounds.

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/02/deal_in_place_to_cut_ammo_magazine_limit_to_10_rounds.html

(3) Pro-gun advocates angry over N.J. lawmakers' hot-mic comments.

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/05/pro-gun_advocates_angry_over_n.html#incart_m-rpt-1

(4) Shocking Hot-Mic Gun Comments From New Jersey Senate: 'CONFISCATE, CONFISCATE, CONFISCATE'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56KCBxADL64&feature=youtu.be

(5) Tyrants beware. 4th Generation Warfare: How the next civil war will be fought.

http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2013/04/tyrants-beware-4th-generation-warfare.html

(6) My Fourth Open Letter to Mike Lawlor: Of anti-Catholic jihads and spitting on your heritage. (Hedgehogs, foxes and wolverines. Oh my!)

http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2014/02/my-fourth-open-letter-to-mike-lawlor-of.html

(7) "Póg mo thóin." Toys for Totalitarians delivery hits Maryland. My question for Gov. O'Malley: “Why is this idiot smiling?”

http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2013/12/pog-mo-thoin-toys-for-totalitarians.html