New Jersey isn't a state that anyone expects to be pro-gun anytime soon. 

That said, there were some surprises there in the 2024 presidential election that suggest the state isn't quite as progressive as many might think. As a result of that, it might not be as anti-gun as many of us have long figured.

Now, with Phil Murphy on his way out--thank the Lord. Sincerely--it's time for a new governor, and the state may be far more competitive for a pro-gun candidate than it has been in quite some time.

Jack Ciattarelli has already gotten an endorsement from Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation, but now he's racked up a second key endorsement.

NJ Firearms Owners Syndicate is a 501c4 non profit organization founded September 16 2024. Our function is to provide advancements to our Second Amendment rights through litigation and inviting all firearms owners to participate in self governance through legislative action and activism. When organizing, we made the deliberate decision to establish ourselves as a 501c4 as it allows the organization to engage in advocacy and lobbying of political and legislative activities.  

After much consideration and research and given the extraordinary circumstances surrounding our Second Amendment rights, we have decided the best course of action concerning the state of New Jersey gubernatorial race is to endorse Jack Ciattarelli as our next sitting governor. This decision does not come lightly and is fact based.  

Ciattarelli was elected to the Assembly in 2011. In December 2012, one of the worst mass shootings in US history occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. In the wake of that shooting, the amount of political pressure to pass gun control was immense. President Obama, Democratic governors across the nation, and all of the national gun control groups made an enormous, coordinated effort to push several key agenda items, in particular, universal background checks in addition to the entire lineup of gun control agenda items, none of which would have prevented that tragedy in Connecticut. 

In 2013 and 2014, against that massive amount of political pressure,  Jack Ciattarelli voted no on standard capacity magazine bans, he voted no on universal background checks, and he voted no on declaring gun violence a public health crisis, even breaking ranks with Gov. Christie, who supported that bill. 

And honestly, Ciattarelli has his credentials as a pro-Second Amendment candidate firmly locked in, from what I can see. Some have argued he supports red flag laws, but that law was reportedly passed before he was in the legislature. Further, he's still got more of a history defending the Second Amendment in New Jersey than any other candidate, one of which I simply don't trust and the other is just terrible for gun rights, and that's just in the GOP primary

I'm not even starting on the Democrats.

But let's also be real here. Being pro-Second Amendment is great and all of that, but it doesn't do a lot of good if you can't get elected, so while Ciattarelli has two big, pro-2A endorsements, he's also got an interesting track record, as reported by Shooting News Weekly.

When Ciattarelli faced off against Governor Phil Murphy in the 2021 gubernatorial election, Ciattarelli lost by a smaller-than-expected margin…3.2 percent. But what else did Ciattarelli do? He flipped eight seats in the New Jersey legislature. Those were valuable seats.

With the state legislature dangerously close to a Democratic supermajority, Ciattarelli’s ability to rally and create “coattails” is imperative in this important election. Creating division and further refusing to support whoever the frontrunner may be on the GOP side  isn’t what New Jersey gun owners need right now. Gun owners need a person who seeks to create unity rather than bolster their own image/reputation.

Now, "he didn't lose by as much as he was going to" doesn't sound like much, but this was 2021. This was before a lot of policies from Murphy's Democratic Party started alienating a lot of people, particularly with regard to things like Israel and Gaza.

It's entirely possible that "didn't lose as bad" could have turned into "won" in today's environment. Plus, he was going up against an incumbent. That's always tougher than an open election ever will be.

What that means is that there are some positive things in the works in New Jersey, but I happen to honestly believe that's only going to happen if Ciattarelli is the nominee.

It's just that simple.