Some of the 214 guns that were exchanged for food |
Mercer County Prosecutor Joe Bocchini |
TRENTON -- Mercer County Prosecutor Joe Bocchini started the conversation off the record. He came back on the record to say Saturday's "Food For Guns" exchange was quote-unquote illegal if you go by the letter of the law. But not really. Because Jersey's Attorney General Guidelines for gun buybacks or exchanges allows police types to operate within the spirit of the law, and that's why Bocchini said the writer of the letter below doesn't know what he's talking about and should chill out. "The law doesn't apply to this operation," Bocchini said at 6 tonight. He said Middlesex County had a buyback 2 weeks ago. Camden has gun buybacks all the time, as do other Jersey towns.
"The guns that were taken in, by far most of them were operable and were able to function," Bocchini said. "There were a few antiques and relics, but so what? When you take weapons that kill or cause severely bodily injuries to cops or citizens, it's a good thing. I believe it will benefit the City of Trenton."
The writer cited 5 instances in which firearms can be transported in Jersey and said everyone who showed up Saturday with a gun or two should have been arrested if you go by the letter of the law. But Bocchini and Assistant Prosecutor Angelo Onofri used the state's fugitive surrender program as an example of "limited safe passage" in relation to the spirit of the law. Let's say Johnny Ramirez was driving to the Trenton Fire Department for the exchange but a cop pulled him over and found a revolver wrapped in a bag that's tucked away in the trunk. All Ramirez would have had to do is tell the cop he's headed to the exchange, and there's a 99.9 percent chance the cop would not have written him up for having the gun. For speeding, yes. Gun, no. But even if the cop had a wild hair up his butt and ran Ramirez before the judge, the judge would have laughed after Ramirez told him he was headed to exchange his gun for a $100 food card. Bocchini and Onofri said these kinds of situations are spelled out in the AG Guidelines that were written in 1994 so that gun buybacks could work hand in hand with laws on the books. (Although, what if Johnny Ramirez used the safe passage line as a ruse to get out of the traffic stop then went to shoot Grantland Reiss dead AND THEN then went to the TFD to exchange the murder weapon for a $100 gift card from ShopRite? That would've been messed up. Poor Grantland Reiss. Such a nice kid. Who's signing the white sheet? But, hey, at least Johnny Ramirez would've eaten well for the next few days thanks to ShopRite.)
Sure, Bocchini said, the downside to anonymous gun buybacks is that guns cannot be used as evidence if they're linked to crimes. On the flip side, we're in the CSI era of solving crimes, and Bocchini and Onofri said you don't need the smoking gun to get a conviction. "There are very few cases where you ever have the murder weapon," Onofri said. That doesn't mean he or Bocchini dismiss the fact some of Saturday's 214 returned guns were used in crimes, possibly murders. "That bothers me," Bocchini said. "But at the same time we removed 100s of other guns that may have been used in homicides, burglaries and assaults."
Onofri said Mercer County law enforcement types contemplated scenarios in which a murder gun was exchanged for food. The silver lining, Onofri said, is that it's one less gun that can be used against citizens and one less gun that can be used against the police."
All guns are destroyed, but Onofri said an owner whose gun was stolen can call the prosecutor's office and get it back by providing the serial number. As far as other laws the writer said county authorities broke Saturday, such as cops "buying" more than one gun in a 30-day period, Bocchini said the guy is being overzealous and needs uncock the hammer.
"The guns that were taken in, by far most of them were operable and were able to function," Bocchini said. "There were a few antiques and relics, but so what? When you take weapons that kill or cause severely bodily injuries to cops or citizens, it's a good thing. I believe it will benefit the City of Trenton."
The writer cited 5 instances in which firearms can be transported in Jersey and said everyone who showed up Saturday with a gun or two should have been arrested if you go by the letter of the law. But Bocchini and Assistant Prosecutor Angelo Onofri used the state's fugitive surrender program as an example of "limited safe passage" in relation to the spirit of the law. Let's say Johnny Ramirez was driving to the Trenton Fire Department for the exchange but a cop pulled him over and found a revolver wrapped in a bag that's tucked away in the trunk. All Ramirez would have had to do is tell the cop he's headed to the exchange, and there's a 99.9 percent chance the cop would not have written him up for having the gun. For speeding, yes. Gun, no. But even if the cop had a wild hair up his butt and ran Ramirez before the judge, the judge would have laughed after Ramirez told him he was headed to exchange his gun for a $100 food card. Bocchini and Onofri said these kinds of situations are spelled out in the AG Guidelines that were written in 1994 so that gun buybacks could work hand in hand with laws on the books. (Although, what if Johnny Ramirez used the safe passage line as a ruse to get out of the traffic stop then went to shoot Grantland Reiss dead AND THEN then went to the TFD to exchange the murder weapon for a $100 gift card from ShopRite? That would've been messed up. Poor Grantland Reiss. Such a nice kid. Who's signing the white sheet? But, hey, at least Johnny Ramirez would've eaten well for the next few days thanks to ShopRite.)
Sure, Bocchini said, the downside to anonymous gun buybacks is that guns cannot be used as evidence if they're linked to crimes. On the flip side, we're in the CSI era of solving crimes, and Bocchini and Onofri said you don't need the smoking gun to get a conviction. "There are very few cases where you ever have the murder weapon," Onofri said. That doesn't mean he or Bocchini dismiss the fact some of Saturday's 214 returned guns were used in crimes, possibly murders. "That bothers me," Bocchini said. "But at the same time we removed 100s of other guns that may have been used in homicides, burglaries and assaults."
Onofri said Mercer County law enforcement types contemplated scenarios in which a murder gun was exchanged for food. The silver lining, Onofri said, is that it's one less gun that can be used against citizens and one less gun that can be used against the police."
All guns are destroyed, but Onofri said an owner whose gun was stolen can call the prosecutor's office and get it back by providing the serial number. As far as other laws the writer said county authorities broke Saturday, such as cops "buying" more than one gun in a 30-day period, Bocchini said the guy is being overzealous and needs uncock the hammer.
New Jersey and law-breaking public officials ... Perfect Together
ReplyDeleteThe AG does not have the authority to change the law to suit his/her particular needs. The "spirit of the law" does, in no way, include a gun buy-back program that requires citizens to transport firearms to the buy back location in a paper bag. The "spirit of the law" does not authorize the County to purchase guns without the required permits to purchase. There is a prescribed method, under the law, for people who wish to surrender their firearms. It does not include taking them en-masse to the firehouse in trade for Shop Rite gift cards.
ReplyDeleteSee below - FF2 says exactly the right thing about the "rational basis" test implemented by the government. Learn the law.
DeleteTypical bureaucrat, don’t let the laws the rest of us have to fear actually get in the way of your ideology. I love how no matter what the law says, they always reference the AG guidelines. Here is a novel concept, how about the people actually elected to write the laws write them in such a way so that they actually make sense, then you won’t need a politically appointed hack lawyer to provide his ideologically motivated twist on them to tell you how to enforce them.
ReplyDeleteThese are the types of people “in charge” that completely ignore federal laws that were written to preempt states from persecuting law abiding citizens transporting firearms through states that are hostile to gun ownership, like New Jersey.
These are the same type of people that will sift through half the contents of one's home packed into the back of their car as they move from one residence to another to find a handgun and then deprive that poor bastard's jury of the transportation exemption written into New Jersey law.
New Jersey gun laws are a prior restraint on a constitutionally protected civil right. Many of the laws as written are completely unconstitutional but that won't stop these A-holes from ruining honest people's lives, they will continue to enforce the bad laws until they get smacked from the SCOTUS which will take some poor bastard through the ringer, cost him his entire life savings and of course all the plentiful tax revenue they can confiscate from you and I at the point of their “legal guns” that they will throw away fighting to keep their failed ideology afloat.
If these types spent as much time prosecuting criminals as they do persecuting law abiding gun owners imagine how safe our communities and cities would actually be.
NJ gun laws are crazy!! I was prosecuted for transporting a unloaded fire arm(3-step rule) from the shooting range back tomy home in PA less than 3 miles away. I cooperated with police(1st mistake) and told them i had a (CCP) and my weapon was unloaded in the trunk with the magazine locked in the glove box. I still went to jail and I had to relenquish the legally purchased fire-arm($450), over $2500 in legal fees and go through 6-months probation
ReplyDeleteObviously you are not telling the entire story.
DeleteOf course not...he only wrote 4 sentences...
DeleteJust be glad these guns off the streets, and one of your loved ones will not be harmed by them. When your family has been hurt, you look at things differently. FYI- If people with illegal guns knew or thought that they would be punished, they would NEVER come forward. I believe that they had a rational basis for taking this action. For those of you who don't know what "rational basis" review is, here is a snippet: "The rational basis review tests whether a governmental action is a reasonable means to an end that may be legitimately pursued by the government. This test requires that the governmental action be "rationally related" to a "legitimate" government interest." This means that the government can sometimes go against its normal rules if a legitimate interest (SUCH AS PUBLIC SAFETY, IN THIS CASE) exists.
ReplyDeleteI want to see proof that this actually reduced the crime rate in NJ.
ReplyDeleteYou want to reduce the crime rate in NJ? Allow average law abiding citizens to carry a firearm to defend themselves. It is the only law of the land that has proved to reduce crime. 44 other States in America allow it, why not NJ?
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