The state of New Jersey has some of the toughest gun control laws in the country. They’re downright insane.

I was on a live stream with fellow Bearing Arms contributor John Petrolino, who is from New Jersey, and commented how sad it is to look at states like California, Illinois, and Massachusetts and wish, “Man, I wish I had gun laws as chill as them.”

John didn’t disagree.

However, despite this, it seems New Jersey doesn’t think it’s doing enough to stomp on the Second Amendment rights of residents.

Following a wave of mass shootings, like the recent shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, Gov. Murphy has reopened discussions on the state’s gun laws. He has made attempts to do so in the past, but they have been unsuccessful.

Murphy’s struggle has been due in part to Senate President Steve Sweeney, who has a history of opposing gun control laws, according to Politico.

Nonetheless, Murphy is pushing forward with his proposals and aims to give the state the “strongest gun violence prevention laws in the United States of America,” as he said at a press conference.

The proposals, of which there are 13, would enact such changes as “[Requiring] gun permit applicants to first pass as safety course,” “[increasing] the purchasing age for a firearm to 21, from 18” and others, according to NJ 101.5.

“I look at mass shootings, in pretty much all circumstances, as a consequence of two things,” said James Ottomanelli, a sophomore African American studies major. “Access to guns, and mental illness.”

Oh, well, a sophomore in African American studies is precisely who we should be listening to when it comes to our civil liberties. I wonder if his African American studies courses teach him about the racist roots of gun control?

Just kidding. We all know they don’t.

Also, it’s interesting how they didn’t bother to speak to a single person who may not agree with Murphy’s proposals. That couldn’t be an attempt to present only one side of the story, now could it? Nah. The media wouldn’t do that, now would it?

Anyway, moving on…

Look, mass shootings make everyone nervous and we all want to figure out a way to address them, but let’s also remember that gun violence is a complex problem that almost no one wants to take a look at. Instead, they want to blame the gun and call it a day. That’s because gun control is an easy-looking solution that they can sell easily enough.

Yet New Jersey already has some of the toughest gun control laws in the nation, yet it’s played host to mass shootings and violent crime aplenty.

The same with California, New York, Illinois, Maryland, and other anti-gun states.

That’s because anti-gun policies don’t make your state safer and they never will. All they do is prevent law-abiding citizens from exercising their constitutionally protected rights. The criminals already don’t care about the laws, but the average citizen does. They’re who will get hurt in all of this.

But I guess what matters is that Murphy gets to pretend he’s really worried about people while not having to really do much of anything to address the real problems.