Even ardent gun haters should be bored of this veto override nonsense

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

It’s one of those times when even the most ardent but fair liberal can’t dismiss my complaints on account of partisanship, Save Jerseyans! At least without looking ridiculous.

Late last month, The Asbury Park Press – not Save Jersey or The Daily Caller – vented its frustration with the newly-strengthened Democrat legislative majority in a blistering tax-centric editorial that named names and didn’t pull punches:

Yes, by all means, grow revenue. But the “first domino” of tackling taxes is not raising them. It’s cutting them. It’s remarkable that the Democrats still can’t grasp how the nation’s highest-in-the-nation property taxes are driving people, businesses and jobs out of state, putting even more upward pressure on taxes.”

That’s right… mainstream and conservative publications alike agree that Trenton’s inability to act upon or even understand the problem is killing us. Our tax climate is even hurting charitable giving for God’s sake!

So what are the Trenton Democrats prioritizing before heading home for Christmas? Besides crafting a North Jersey Casino ballot question designed to pay back big donors despite overwhelming public opposition?

Yet another gun control bill veto override attempt, this time in the Assembly, to follow up the successful October 22nd State Senate override vote. The bill at issue would require that local law enforcement be notified prior to the expungement of mental health records belonging to a citizen seeking to lawfully purchase a gun.

Will the bill solve the alleged problem? Of course not. That’s not the point. These stunts are cat nip for their base, just like North Jersey casinos are payback for the class of folks who feed the Super PACs and campaign funds. Given that New Jersey has lost far more residents to high taxes than mass shootings, an honest person will struggle to find any substantive, honorable goal capable of justifying the overtly political motivation behind gun bill veto overrides.

The obvious retort to my point about Trenton’s whacked priorities?

“We should be able to do two things at once, Rooney!”

And you wouldn’t be wrong without, of course, wading into the question of whether you think gun control actually saves lives (clearly I do not). But Trenton clearly cannot handle two things at once. Right? The ruling majority can’t even handle one. Don’t take my word for it; look at your property tax bill.

“If Prieto and Sweeney don’t budge on property tax relief, the next move is up to you, the taxpayer,” the APP editorial board concluded. “Ticked off about your property tax bills? Enough to do something about them? Don’t let Prieto, Sweeney and other Democrats ignore your concerns. Don’t allow their allegiance to the unions and those who feed off the government teet — themselves included — trump your ability to be able to afford to remain in New Jersey.”

Yup. That’s why even Second Amendment skeptics should demand an end to the Trenton Democrats’ circus performances and insist, as I would were I in charge, that not a single damn highway be renamed, resolution honoring anyone be passed, or veto be challenged until action is taken to cut taxes.

What will it matter who can own what if none of us can afford to live here?

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