Via Shall Not Be Questioned we have this gorgeous article about how lawmakers and political movers will bring Gun Control via economics… which kinda explains why they are so screwed up there. They had only 2 companies bidding and not at the prices they wanted because they added political gun control crap to the bidding process.
“We’re putting the gun manufacturers on notice,” said Rabbi Joel Mosbacher of Mahwah, who has led national efforts to enlist police departments as part of his work with Metro Industrial Areas Foundation, a coalition of progressive citizen groups.
“Forty percent of the guns in this country are purchased by police and the military,” he said. “The next time they purchase weapons, they are not only going to consider the technical quality but the social responsibility of the manufacturer.”
via Kelly: A step toward gun control comes in the fine print – News – NorthJersey.com.
The Rabbi may know his Talmud, but not the realities of life. US Military and LEO (fed, state & local) comprised just over 3 million people in 2012 (less now since the military is winding down operations overseas.) The latest numbers of firearms manufacturing and importation provided by the ATF were for 2011 and show a grand total of 9,794,290 guns that were manufactured that year. That is about 1/3 of the amount…. but unless The federal Government and the State & Local governments decided to buy guns every frigging year, their impact on the consumer market is pretty much zilch and that was what the NJ movers and shakers found out but still remain stupid about it.
If the gun retailer wanted to bid on the $400,000 contract, it had to answer Jersey City’s questions, including how Lawmen would dispose of used police firearms, whether it would agree not to sell certain types of high-powered weapons to civilians, and whether it requires its dealers to conduct background checks…
When Jersey City announced its new bidding process for police ammunition and firearms in December, not a single gunmaker or retailer submitted bids.
Eventually and after some begging, 2 suppliers put on bids:
Lawmen submitted a bid of $521,753 for what Jersey City hoped would be a purchase of about $400,000.
Then, Atlantic, perhaps sensing that it might lose a lucrative, reliable contract, came through — with a lower bid of $509,207.
Dear NJ: You want a special pizza, you have to pay for it. You don’t get a Little Caesar’s $5 deal because you have a pretty face.
Read the whole article if for nothing else to see how disconnected they are from reality.
Honestly I’m surprised ANYBODY bid on it… And those are both distributors, not manufacturers.. 🙂
Since guns are so ineffective against violence any way, maybe this is a great time for Jersey City police to wean themselves from them.
Dear Rabbit,
In the words of Jews much wiser than I, “kish mir yiddisher tuchas!”
Are you familiar with the history of what happens when men who work for the government have guns and Jews don’t? My grandparent’s siblings in an unmarked grave in Poland sure do. You should be G-d Damned ashamed of your self.
Sincerely
Not going to die unarmed in a ditch
P.S. I find this especially ironic coming from NJ where the state police look like (and act like) Waffen SS dipped in blue paint.
http://i43.tinypic.com/20zwwph.jpg
We in NJ were actually hoping that NO ONE would bid on this. Jersey City Mayor Fulop also has aspirations of moving onto the larger stage of state politics. NJ Senate? NJ Governor? It’s a special kind of hell!