TexasCHLforum.com

Taypo wrote:

WildBill wrote:

jimlongley wrote:I am not surprised, a lot of friends and acquaintances were confused when Texas passed open carry, they thought we already had it.

There is the old saying that ignorance of the law is no defense, but I have also found that most people do not know the law when it concerns firearms.

Sometimes we, on the forum, forget that the majority of citizens don't know very much about the laws concerning firearms and self defense.

In my conversations with people, I have corrected many misconceptions that they have concerning Texas laws such as MPA, 30.06, 51% signs, etc.

I don't disagree with you, but this is another case of someone who refuses to take responsibility for a mistake. Personally, I'm firmly of the belief that anyone carrying a gun is responsible for knowing things like legal signage and where you can and can't carry.

completely. But let's look at this from a slightly different angle. Rahway is where the prison is for the really BGs in NJ. If they were to apply the same logic to all of the BGs who are caught in Camden and Newark alone, they would have to build two more Rahways to house them. For me, this is just like the zero tolerance policies in schools. Those policies (and the draconian gun laws in NJ) were supposedly put into place to deter the BGs from doing bad things. But in real life, the BGs get plead off or not prosecuted and an honest guy makes a mistake and gets the full force of the law. Newark is right up there with Chicago in terms of murders per 100K people.

Though this article is a couple of years old, nothing has changed in Camden. I find it interesting that PA is blamed for NJ's problems in the article and while Philadelphia does have its own issues (it is just across a bridge from Camden), it has no where near the problems that Camden has. If you look up the NJ State Police crime statistics, you will find a gentle downward trend in crimes across the State but significant increases in crime in the urban centers. I saw a similar story where Chicago residents are suing a couple of suburbs for their crime problems. If that were true, why don't the suburbs have the same level of crime?
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati ... n/2113737/

Taypo wrote:I don't disagree with you, but this is another case of someone who refuses to take responsibility for a mistake. Personally, I'm firmly of the belief that anyone carrying a gun is responsible for knowing things like legal signage and where you can and can't carry.

I think that he is taking responsibility. That doesn't mean he should take the punishment dealt to him without a fight. He is trying to minimize his punishment which is totally understandable - I think most people would do the same. To just plead guilty to a felony and go to jail without mounting the best legal defense he can afford is not the best tactic.

WildBill wrote:

Taypo wrote:I don't disagree with you, but this is another case of someone who refuses to take responsibility for a mistake. Personally, I'm firmly of the belief that anyone carrying a gun is responsible for knowing things like legal signage and where you can and can't carry.

I think that he is taking responsibility. That doesn't mean he should take the punishment dealt to him without a fight. He is trying to minimize his punishment which is totally understandable - I think most people would do the same. To just plead guilty to a felony and go to jail without mounting the best legal defense he can afford is not the best tactic.

My bad. I kinda misspoke on this one. Hopefully he gets the pre trial intervention on this and not jail time. My anger is directed more at the gun world for taking this up as the latest cause of the day. Rather than a teaching opportunity for other gun owners, they're using the pulpit to crucify NJ gun laws (no matter how ridiculous they are, they're still laws)

Taypo wrote:

WildBill wrote:

Taypo wrote:I don't disagree with you, but this is another case of someone who refuses to take responsibility for a mistake. Personally, I'm firmly of the belief that anyone carrying a gun is responsible for knowing things like legal signage and where you can and can't carry.

I think that he is taking responsibility. That doesn't mean he should take the punishment dealt to him without a fight. He is trying to minimize his punishment which is totally understandable - I think most people would do the same. To just plead guilty to a felony and go to jail without mounting the best legal defense he can afford is not the best tactic.

My bad. I kinda misspoke on this one. Hopefully he gets the pre trial intervention on this and not jail time. My anger is directed more at the gun world for taking this up as the latest cause of the day. Rather than a teaching opportunity for other gun owners, they're using the pulpit to crucify NJ gun laws (no matter how ridiculous they are, they're still laws)

I think it's both. Gun owners who previously didn't know about NJ's horrible laws will now become aware. And it sheds light on just how horrible they are, hopefully leading the way for legislative action (probably unlikely) or a lawsuit (more likely) to get the laws changed.

Taypo wrote:

WildBill wrote:

Taypo wrote:I don't disagree with you, but this is another case of someone who refuses to take responsibility for a mistake. Personally, I'm firmly of the belief that anyone carrying a gun is responsible for knowing things like legal signage and where you can and can't carry.

I think that he is taking responsibility. That doesn't mean he should take the punishment dealt to him without a fight. He is trying to minimize his punishment which is totally understandable - I think most people would do the same. To just plead guilty to a felony and go to jail without mounting the best legal defense he can afford is not the best tactic.

My bad. I kinda misspoke on this one. Hopefully he gets the pre trial intervention on this and not jail time. My anger is directed more at the gun world for taking this up as the latest cause of the day. Rather than a teaching opportunity for other gun owners, they're using the pulpit to crucify NJ gun laws (no matter how ridiculous they are, they're still laws)

Don't forget how "Unconstitutional" are, it's not just about how ridiculous we think they are, because they ARE bad laws, and should not be legal.

Jago668 wrote:

Taypo wrote:Ignorance is NOT a defense.

Unless you are a police officer, according to our wonderful SCOTUS.

And liberal politicians.

The guy might even lose his job if his company had a no weapons policy especially if he was traveling on company time and business.