In the wake of a federal judge’s decision halting enforcement (at least for now) of many of New Jersey’s new “sensitive places” where concealed carry is prohibited, one of the state’s largest newspapers is calling on readers to boycott any business that allows concealed carry holders inside. The Star-Ledger editorial board has never been particularly friendly towards gun owners or the Second Amendment, but now they’re not even attempting to hide their outright hostility.

The editors start out by bemoaning U.S. District Judge Renee Marie Bumb’s decision, along with the Supreme Court’s decision in Bruen, while holding out hope that the Third Circuit Court of Appeals will stay her ruling and keep most of the state off-limits to lawful concealed carry. But the paper doesn’t stop there.

In the meantime, we can press to aggressively enforce limits that survived, like the right for private businesses and homes to deny entrance to anyone with a firearm. Six in 10 New Jerseyans believe federal gun laws are too weak, and 72% are “very concerned” about gun violence, so we should put our money where our mouths are, by boycotting businesses that allow guns on their property.

Our hope is that businesses adapt by posting a no-firearms sign on their front doors. And if they don’t, remember to call and let them know why you’re not patronizing them.

Yes, because violent predators are oh-so-concerned about bringing their illegally obtained (and carried) firearms into a place where they’re not allowed.

Actually, I have no idea if the Star-Ledger editors are dumb enough to believe that because its clear that their objections are to New Jersey residents attempting to lawfully exercise their fundamental right to armed self-defense.

New Jersey has the second-toughest gun laws in the nation, according to Giffords. We also have a low level of gun ownership, with about 20% of residents owning firearms compared with the estimated 30-40% nationally.

Result: Our state’s gun-death rate is 5.13 per 100,000 people, the third-lowest in the US.

We’d like to see it drop to zero. Perhaps states-rights folks can appreciate that we don’t want to be like Mississippi, which has six times the gun-death rate (32.61 people per 100,000), the worst in the nation.

This isn’t a “states-rights” issue. It’s an individual rights issue, and the Star-Ledger editors are intent on denying and demonizing the right to keep and bear arms to as many people as possible, even if they have to resort to nonsensical arguments to do so. Is Mississippi’s “gun death rate” (a figure that includes suicides as well as homicides and accidental/negligent deaths involving a firearm) so high because concealed carry holders are blasting away at anything that moves? Of course not. In every state in the Union, concealed carry holders are rarely accused of violent crimes, and the revocation rates (for any reason, not just for violent criminal offenses) are generally low.

I’m sure that there’ll be plenty of establishments in the Garden State that do declare their property off-limits to concealed carry, but that won’t keep bad actors or those with nefarious intent from carrying out their plans any more than the state’s “may issue” carry regime stopped dangerous criminals from illegally carrying guns. With their myopic focus on preventing responsible gun owners from exercising their right to self-defense, however, the Star-Ledger editors have not only demonstrated their willful ignorance on combatting crime, but their blatant hostility towards anyone exercising (or defending) their Second Amendment rights.