Lonegan Calls Murphy, Democrats “Cowards” on Guns

September 19,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Hackensack NJ,  5th District Republican candidate Steve Lonegan called Democrat gubernatorial nominee Phil Murphy a “coward” on gun-control and labeled his party “cowards” for following Murphy.  Lonegan’s words were in response to Murphy’s statements as reported in the New York Times and the Observer yesterday.

According to Observer reporter Christian Hetrick (August 24, 2017), Murphy said that he wants to a create a regional body made up of New Jersey and neighboring states to oversee a “coordinated effort to increase gun control.”  The Observer writes:  “Murphy likened the idea to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cap-and-trade program for several northeastern states that New Jersey withdrew from under Gov. Chris Christie.”

“Apparently the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the United States of America are not enough for Mr. Murphy,” Lonegan said, “Now he wants to create a new level of government in between the federal government and the states.”  Lonegan added:  “We do not need another level of government with a host of new bureaucrats to find ways to circumvent the Bill of Rights.  Americans are paying too much for government already. We should be consolidating government, making it smaller, not growing it.”

In the Observer story, Murphy said that if elected governor, he would sign a number of bills into law to make it more difficult to obtain a firearm for self-protection in New Jersey.  Lonegan noted that New Jersey is already one of the worst states in America for allowing people to defend their homes and families.

Lonegan said:  “How many more Carol Bownes must there be before Phil Murphy and the Democrats in the Legislature provide the people of New Jersey with the same protection they enjoy?”  Carol Bowne is the New Jersey woman murdered while waiting for a hand-gun permit for self-defense.  As Gannett reported (June 4, 2015):

” When Carol Bowne felt the threat of domestic violence, the petite hairdresser took steps to protect herself.  (She) got a restraining order against a former boyfriend, installed security cameras and an alarm system to her home and began the months-long process of obtaining a handgun, friends said.  But it wasn’t enough.  Bowne, 39, was stabbed to death in the driveway of her Patton Avenue home on Wednesday night.”

“Under New Jersey law, you cannot sue government for failing to protect you.  The police do a great job, but they can’t be everywhere.  If government doesn’t budget for enough police protection and they fail to arrive on time, you end up dead and people like Phil Murphy put on their sad face and tell you ‘thems the breaks’,”  Lonegan added.

Lonegan continued:  “What they won’t do is remind you that each and every citizen has primary responsibility over his or her personal safety.  Government won’t do that for you, so government shouldn’t take away your ability to preserve your life and well-being.”

“These phonies claim to dislike guns when in fact, they love guns and would not work in a building that wasn’t protected by men with guns.”

Lonegan reminded voters:  “In his last job, Phil Murphy was protected by United States Marines.  He and his fellow Democrats in the Legislature wouldn’t think of dismissing their armed-protection, but they are willing to sacrifice the lives of average citizens on the altar of some feel-good ideology.”

“The life of a single mom, employed as a manager in a fast-food restaurant, who doesn’t live in a wealthy community with plenty of police protection — her life is worth as much as Phil Murphy’s and those of his Democrat allies.  Unlike them, she must launder her own clothes, clean her own house, cook her own food, and rely on her own resources for self-protection.  They pay people for all those things.  Just because she is working class, that doesn’t mean that she shouldn’t have access to the same protection they pay people to provide for them.”

“Murphy is a coward and his party are cowards for making sure that their lives are safe, while trying to deny that right to everyone who isn’t rich enough to afford it.”