Fifth Amendment Abuse Proposed in New Jersey

By Heather
Some things just make me go bonkers this is one of them!
Yes Viginia there is a Santa Claus but there is also a dark side idiot democrats that sponsor idiot bills that need be fillabustered along with the sponsor that should be ballgagged and placed into political exile charged with political doltry.

It looks like the commissars of the People's Republic of New Jersey aren't content with simply working to suppress the Second Amendment rights of their subjects, they want to attack their Fifth Amendment rights also.


A New Jersey state assemblyman has introduced a bill that would allow the government to seize the home or car of anyone whose property contains an illegal firearm.

The legislation, sponsored by Assemblyman Louis Manzo, D-Jersey City, authorizes the forfeiture of "motor vehicle, building or premise" if a firearm is found in it that is not possessed legally per state law – "even if the firearm was not possessed by the owner of the motor vehicle, building or premise," states a summary of the bill, A3998.


Interesting, isn't it? This mirrors the legislation which allows for seizure of property in drug raids...a law I always thought had good intentions but was overly broad. I think it is reasonable that if you can prove the illegal item/act was a significant factor in the acquisition of said property then, by all means, it makes sense to confiscate the property as part of the crime. These sort of laws goes way, way beyond that sort of justification and are a flagrant violation of the Fifth Amendment protection against "private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."


"We currently allow this to take place when illegal drugs are found. This is to keep a landlord or someone driving the car from turning a blind eye to the drugs people in an apartment or passenger in the car is doing," he said. "I think if a landlord knows there is an illegal gun in the house, he or she should do something about it. And this may encourage someone driving a car to keep a person from carrying a gun."

And just how the hell is a landlord supposed to know what is and is not an illegal weapon? I know more about firearms than the vast majority of people and I would have to personally handle, research and possibly even fire a weapon to know if it was illegal. There are tons of weapons that look like illegal weapons which aren't, there are semi-autos which look exactly like machineguns and how would you have any clue if a pistol was illegal? Granted, I'm not all that familiar with New Jersey firearms law and it could well be draconian enough that almost EVERYTHING is illegal...but is it even remotely reasonable to demand that a landlord or average citizen should be expected to have such knowledge at the risk of their hard-earned property?

Once again lawmakers, rather than punish those who willfully break the law or provide law enforcement with the manpower and funds to increase their presence, look for ways to appear concerned and produce results. This law does little more than make criminals out of bystanders and allows the state of New Jersey to steal their property for it's own benefit. If you can establish complicity and direct benefit from someone's actions, then they should be charged with aiding and abetting and dealt with accordingly - this law simply eliminates the need to prove any connection between the illegal act and the person(s) being punished for the act. The passage of this law would be a travesty of justice and one can hope that it never sees the light of day....Gov. Corzie ya listening?