APP LETTER: Gun background checks: Where is Smith’s support?

If you haven't seen it the following letter to the editor appeared yesterday in the Asbury Park Press. It raises a serious question about Middletown's other congressman, Chris Smith:


After hearing about the alarmingly high number of school shootings, 74 in 2014 alone, I decided to write a letter to my congressman, Chris Smith.

Smith has refused to co-sponsor a federal bill, H.R. 1565, for expanded background checks on firearms. This bill would help keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people, and I wanted to know why he hasn’t supported it publicly.

Smith’s office responded to my inquiry with an explanation, which included that he supported the Brady Handgun Bill in 1993. Thank you, Congressman, for supporting common sense in 1993, but what about now?

Due to NRA-influenced politicians, much of the Brady Bill has become irrelevant. So, by stating two decades-old support of the Brady bill, Smith’s response is also irrelevant.

What is relevant is that America leads developed nations in homicide by gun, suicide by gun, mass shootings, accidental death of children by gun, school shootings, and women shot by domestic abusers. Where is Smith’s current support for gun sense?

New Jersey gun laws are strong, but our neighboring states have weak laws and criminals go to those states to acquire weapons. New Jersey is the No. 1 importer of illegal guns in the nation.

These illegal guns ravage our cities, endanger our police, and are used to kill our civilians, as evidenced in recent events, including in Jersey City and West Orange this summer, as well as the Short Hills Mall shooting last holiday season. Federal law is important for New Jersey.

Smith should stop hiding behind what he did in 1993 because it has no impact on today.

Congressman Smith’s constituents overwhelmingly support expanded background checks on firearms. He should too.

Francee Tendler

Manalapan

Holt Video - I'm With Rush

Just before the holiday weekend I received and email from the Rush Holt for Senate campaign that contained a link to the video below.

 In the video Holt's background as a scientist/teacher and his progressive stands and voting record in Congress are highlighted by a number of people both young and old that rattle off a list of issues that are near and dear to them.

The video also takes a passive aggressive, subtle swipe at one of Holt's U.S. Senate challengers, front runner Cory Booker. The swipe happens when a young African-American supporter states, " I like Cory Booker but for Senate, I'm with Rush".

Overall I like the video, it's effective, concise and charmingly quirky, playing off the "Big Bang Theory" geekiness of Holt's background and supporters.  



Rush is a teacher, scientist and a true progressive. No one will fight harder for progressive policies in the US Senate.

Rush has taken on the Republicans in Congress - voting against the war in Iraq, to repeal the PATRIOT Act, against warrantless surveillance of Americans, and against Republican cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

In the Senate, Rush will be a leader on progressive issues, like increasing education funding, expanding background checks to ALL gun sales and building a smart national energy grid.

President Obama's Weekly Address 3/23/13: Helping Protect Our Kids by Reducing Gun Violence

Three months after the tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, President Obama says that the Senate has taken important steps forward to help protect our kids by reducing gun violence. The American people made their voices heard, and the Senate made progress to make it harder for criminals and people with serious mental illnesses to get guns, to crack down on anyone trying to funnel guns to criminals, and to reinstate and strengthen a ban on the sale of military-style assault weapons. Each of these ideas deserves a vote.

Rep. Pallone Statement on the President’s Plan to Reduce Gun Violence

WASHINGTON DC – Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) today released the following statement on the President’s recommendations to reduce gun violence:

“More than one month ago when 26 children and staff were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School, our hearts were broken. It was not the first time we have mourned a mass shooting, but we should do everything in our capacity to make it the last by taking meaningful action to prevent gun violence. We owe it to the memories of those lost, the families of the victims and to our children who deserve to feel safe in our communities.

“I applaud the common sense reforms outlined by the President, including universal background checks and banning military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines that have no place on our streets. As the Senior Democrat on the Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health, which has jurisdiction over the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), I agree that improving our mental health system and studying gun violence should be priorities.

“I am ever-hopeful that Congress can put aside party differences and come together to take steps that will prevent senseless violence and make our communities safer. I join President Obama and Vice President Biden in asking my colleagues in Congress to do the right thing.”