The mayor of Trenton, N.J., Democrat Reed Gusciora, is blaming "lax" federal gun laws for a drive-by shooting in his city early Saturday morning that left 10 wounded.
“Many young people are afraid to go out in the street because of gun violence,” Mayor Reed Gusciora said. “It's indicative of gun violence across America, there are shootings every day. The federal government needs to address this.”
Gusciora was on the scene at Ramoneros Liquor & Bar around 11 a.m. Saturday morning, where hours before 11 bar-goers were injured. The victims were congregated outside the bar when a dark SUV drove by, and someone inside the SUV fired at the group, he said.
Of the 11 injured, 10 were shot while an 11th victim suffered abrasions during the incident.
Gusciora offered no evidence that tougher federal gun laws would prevent criminals who have a tendency to do drive-by shootings to reconsider their life choices.
The mayor said lax federal gun laws allow people to bring firearms into New Jersey from nearby states. New Jersey has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, but Gusciora said he would like them to be further regulated nationwide.
It's always interesting that the guns reportedly bought in nearby states with lax gun laws don't tend to cause a rise in gun crimes in those nearby states. Instead, criminals tend to decide to make their way to New Jersey for some reason. It's almost as if New Jersey's stringent gun control laws serve only to prevent the law abiding from arming themselves, but not criminals.
As is the case with most of these sorts of shootings, authorities believe it is gang-related.
The city’s new police director, Sheilah Coley, said authorities don’t have a motive yet but are exploring the theory that it was a gang related.
“There are gangs in Trenton,” she said. “They happen to be associated with neighborhoods and sometimes there are neighborhood conflicts. This might very well be a part of that friction.”
If the mayors and elected officials of these cities dealt with their gang problem, their gun "problem" would likely solve itself.
[…] again, the law-abiding are targeted. The gangbangers who did a drive-by shooting last weekend in Trenton aren't going to be getting a firearms purchasing ID, nor will they undergo the training. The poor, […]