This headline may frighten you, and it should - but not for the reasons you might think. It is very similar to the headline “10 Round Magazine Limit Will Prevent Arizona Type Shootings”. The question to ask about both headlines is “Who says so?” and “What is the evidence?”

The first headline is true. I HATE stickers on my fruit. They are sometimes hard to get off. They leave a foreign substance behind. I have no idea what the glue is made from. I think it causes cancer. So technically, since at least one person thinks fruit stickers cause cancer, the headline is true. Of course, it is not completely true. In order to comply with rigid scientific standards, independent scientists would conduct experiments. They would probably try to replicate the results and they might conduct these experiments on each type of glue used. In the final analysis, specific evidence would determine if the headline is universally true.

The same thing applies to the second headline. Even though there is no real reason or evidence to expect that reducing magazine capacity to 10 rounds would have any effect on such tragic events as the Arizona shootings, both state Assemblyman Louis Greenwald (D-6) and U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D) have introduced bills that would do just that. The truth is that they do it because they think it makes people feel safe. However, feeling safe is not the same thing as being safe.

Preventing law-abiding individuals from owning guns with a magazine capacity of over 10 rounds does nothing to deter criminals or the criminally insane from getting and using them. It only succeeds in limiting the ability of law-abiding individuals to defend themselves from these very same criminals. Nevertheless, Assembly Members and U.S. Senators are not scientists. They are not required to prove anything. Apparently, it is enough to suggest that there is some correlation.

The problem is there is no way to prevent a politician from introducing these  types of bills. The only option is for people to voice their dissent in their representative’s offices and at the polls. In the end, if we don’t want artificial stickers placed on our food, and artificial limits placed on our ability to defend ourselves, we are going to need to take action.

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Frank Fiamingo is the President of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society, the most active grassroots 2A rights movement in NJ. Further information is available at www.nj2as.com