May 5th, 2008; Washington Township, NJ
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Robert Kreisler

In a stunning first-of-its-kind announcement, the New Jersey Coalition for Self Defense (NJCSD) predicts that the Supreme Court Of The United States (SCOTUS) will confirm an individual right interpretation of the 2nd Amendment in Heller vs. DC, foreshadowing an end to decades of acrimonious debate over the meaning of what is widely considered to be a core principle for many Americans.

Based on the NJ State Police Uniform Crime Report, murders have been steadily increasing the last 5-7 years.  They do note that the trend in violent crimes has been slightly decreasing or remaining nearly the same.  There were 427 murders in New Jersey in 2006, and there were nearly 30,000 rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults in the same time period. The picture at the left shows a map of murders ONLY in NJ by county .  While the placement of each dot is not reflective of reality, the number of dots per county is accurate.

Each and every dot is a loss of human life through violence.  Many counties have seen much, much more violence than others. If you were to place red dots on the picture for aggravated assaults, car-jacking, home invasions and armed robberies. the map would be mostly red.  Close to 70% of these violent assaults include weapons like firearms and knives.

What can you do to protect yourself?  Within your home you can take certain precautions, including alarms, and even surveillance. You can also take up defensive measures, just like the preparations that you might undertake for fire, medical or any other emergency.  However if you wish a firearm for protection from an armed intruder, you'd better get started now, as many municipalites in New Jersey will make you wait - some up to 6 months - in spite of the NJ statute that says 30 days or less.

And if you wish to protect yourself in your car or while out in public, you cannot except with your bare hands.  Be very aware that your attackers will no doubt be armed and ready.  The legislators in New Jersey have removed nearly all of your ability to be defensively armed in the name of "public safety" while murders have steadily increased in our state.   You may not carry a firearm that you can legally own at home, unless you are a retired law enforement officer.  In all probability you cannot carry any sort of weapon at all.  In the legal sense you are guilty until proven innocent relative to any sort of defensive tool.  But your attackers already will know this, and will have some sort of weapon on top of their advantage of surprise.  If you do not like this any more than we do, get involved.  Please write your legislator, and call them, and tell them how you feel about being defenseless.

"Guilty until proven innocent" reared its ugly head once again with the news of Wal-Mart establishing a new policy of videotaping all firearms purchases, at the insistent prodding of New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg's personal crusade front, Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Most disturbing is how Wal-Mart seemingly caved so easily to the Mayors' Cabal. But here's a question: Why is it Wal-Mart's, or any other store's responsibility for what people do with a product they sell? Following that logic, shouldn't Wal-Mart should be videotaping all sales in every department? After all, somebody could leave a bottle of Drano in an unsecured kitchen cabinet where a child could get a hold of it. A can of spray paint could be left carelessly on a garage shelf where it could find its way into the hands of a kid who wants a quick, cheap high. A tube of mascara could become a dagger in the eye of a newly-licensed teenage girl attempting to plump up her lashes while driving to class.

And do you think Mayor Bloomberg made note of the array of high-fat, high-calorie bagged and boxed edibles on Wal-Mart's shelves? The war on trans-fats is another one of his pet projects, hot on the heels of the city-wide smoking ban he couldn't wait to push into law during his first term.

It used to be that we elected a politician to serve as our representative - our voice in the government. We talked; they listened, learned, and empathized. But the idea of promoting the general welfare has been seized upon and abused by opportunistic men and women who live their lives in ivory towers, insulated from everything but their yes-men, their security guards, and an overdeveloped sense of omniscience. They no longer work for us; they work in spite of us, for their own gain and glory. And with each new expedition in search of the elusive Utopia, freedom suffers what the rest of us can only hope isn't an irretrievable loss.