The citizens of New Jersey have been fighting an uphill battle for decades. It seemed with the arrival of a solid opinion in NYSRPA v. Bruen, that the Garden State was being liberated, and for a while, that was the case. Not that the peasants in New Jersey can’t get permits to carry at this time, because many can. Albeit, there are delays and still some cranky jurisdictions. However, NJ has been following suit of New York and has introduced a bill that will completely eviscerate carry in the state, that is with a permit to carry. There have been a few rounds of committee meetings concerning A4769, the “carry killer” bill, and many Democrats have been showing their true colors throughout this process. Democrat Assemblyman John McKeon, when giving his remarks about how he was going to vote, made some incredibly biased and racist remarks.

On Monday November 14, 2022, there was an Assembly Judiciary Committee meeting concerning A4769. The bill would be making nearly all of New Jersey a de facto “sensitive place”, add a larger financial burden to applicants seeking a permit to carry, firearms ID card, or pistol purchaser’s permit, causes applicants to provide more references, makes permit to carry holders have a non-existent and illegal via Murphy’s Executive Order insurance policy, bans people from carrying in their cars, and even there was mention of looking into social media accounts. The bill is unconstitutional and morally repugnant.

There have been several politicians in support of this measure that have been caught up saying the quiet part out loud, with McKeon being the most recent. McKeon was addressing Assemblywoman Flynn, and his former description of her being “tone deaf” during past meetings on the measure. Flynn took, and has continued to have, a more Constitutionalist approach to the legislation, noting that everyone on the committee knows in their hearts that the legislation is a bad bill. McKeon, doubled down, instead of saying Flynn was tone deaf, described her as “disingenuous” in her and other opponent’s view.

…in my opinion, maybe tone deaf isn’t the right word as opposed to maybe a little bit disingenuous. Do you really do either of you? Does anybody really want to put more guns in the hands of people that live in Paterson and Newark and Elizabeth and Camden, to say here, all the money you’re charging isn’t fair. That will make things safer. 

Yikes! When the topic of the high fees, which as it is the process to get a permit to carry in New Jersey is already close to about $500.00 or more every two years, GOP member Assemblyman Robert Auth queried if there should be a state program to offer financial support to those seeking permits that cannot afford them. I think the Assemblyman’s heart and mind were in exactly the right spot, because his suggestion got McKeon to make his own tone deaf remarks. Personally I believe there should be no fee. This is a Constitutional right.

How offensive is McKeon’s remark? Let’s drill down into what he’s saying. Taking some demographic statistics from Statistical Atlas, we have the following information on New Jersey: 

Patterson has the following population demographics: White @ 8.6%, Black @ 29.4%, and 57.2% are classified as HIspanic.
Newark has the following population demographics: White @ 10.7%, Black @ 50.2%, and 34.1% are classified as Hispanic.
Elizabeth has the following population demographics: White @ 14.1%, Black @ 19.7%, and 60.9% are classified as Hispanic.
Camden has the following population demographics: White @ 5.3%, Black @ 47.8%, and 42.5% are classified as Hispanic.

Assemblyman John McKeon’s remarks were nothing short of racist, with the cities he named having some of the largest populations of Blacks and Hispanics in New Jersey. 

McKeon should be ashamed of himself and the Democratic party, allegedly the party of minorities, should immediately move to censure him. McKeon, if he had a conscience, would resign.

McKeon said the quiet part out loud. The public masters do not want Blacks and Hispanics, even if they’ve been background checked and are law abiding, to be able to carry firearms to self-defend.

More and more “hot mic” moments, even though these dunder heads are saying what they’re saying knowing they’re being monitored and recorded,  keep popping up as this legislation winds its way through the committees, and heads to full floor votes in New Jersey. 

Assemblyman Joe Danielsen, the primary sponsor of this legislation, who refused to/was unable to answer simple questions during former meetings, even noted himself that the bill is supposed to target the law-abiding gun owner and has nothing to do with stopping the criminal element.

The last thing I want to say to people, and some of my own Democrats have committed to me, a commented that to me, this does nothing [to] stop the illegal gun trade, or the illegal criminal, illegal possessions, or criminal content and…you’re right. This doesn’t. It was never supposed to address that.

This is addressing the legal, law abiding, responsible citizens. That’s what it’s designed to do.

Danielsen’s bill has had other controversy. Beside his own admission this has to do with attacking the law-abiding, background checked citizens that get their permits to carry, it’d have prohibited everyday items everywhere. An original version of the bill would have outlawed so many different objects, it’d be impossible to go anywhere or do anything. In his hubris, the bill would have made baseball bats illegal in ballparks, scalpels illegal in hospitals, and a plethora of other objects that could be considered weapons prohibited from all the sensitive locations carved out in the bill. We certainly can’t accuse Danielsen of being overly bright due to this faux pas, besides his view on what civil liberties are.

The bill also has attached felony level penalties for nearly every infraction. In “fixing” the bill, they actually upped the class of infraction when removing “weapon” from the bill text and substituting it with “destructive device”. That was to get around the banning of everything under the sun. Maybe in an act of lashing out, the pinkos did this? We can assume they want to create as many felons out of their opposition as possible. What these lawmakers are underestimating are the numbers of Democrats, Independents, and the racially diverse makeup of those that are now firearm owners and want to carry.

Welcome to the foot in mouth club John McKeon. Thank you for telling everyone exactly how you feel about the populations of “those cities”. You don’t want Blacks and HIspanics to have guns. Like many so-called champions of minorities, McKeon does not respect those he allegedly serves. At least not during that committee meeting he did not. Can’t afford a permit to carry? McKeon does not give a crap.

We’ll continue to follow the Jim Crow ways of New Jersey’s law makers and report back on this saga, and every other saga involving disgusting lawmakers that think they’re smarter than the Supreme Court of the United States. Governor Phil Murphy, Assemblymen Joe Danielsen and John McKeon, and those that vote in favor of this bill all saying this collectively:

“…I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny . . . and I say . . . segregation today . . . segregation tomorrow . . . segregation forever.”

Ya’ll are cut from the same cloth and history will not be singing you praise…you’ll simply be footnotes that stood in the way of civil liberties.

To catch the audio recording of McKeon spewing out his racist drivel, check out the video in the embed above or click HERE. The full meeting audio can be listened to HERE.