Opinion: Murphy loses another bid to punish legal gun owners

In a year when tax revenues are way down, thanks to the state's overreaction to the novel coronavirus, Governor Murphy is desperate to come up with more of your money to fill the gaps. After all he has to keep feeding the oversized beast that is New Jersey Government, with all of it's salaries, pensions and unfunded obligations. This time around and for the second year in a row, he tried to drastically increase everything having to do with legally owning a gun in this state.

Fortunately, he failed to get his progressive, utopian, "no guns for you" wish list of tax increases. wish. Of course he has state police protection around the clock, but even when he's is out of office, and hopefully that is sooner than later, he has enough money for private security for the next three generations of Murphys. So in the final budget deal, he didn't get his way.

What he wanted was a 2,400 percent increase in the the handgun purchasing fee, a 1,900 percent increase in the firearm ID card fee and so on. What other area could you even suggest such outrageous tax increases and show your face in public. Well, he and a lot of his supporters, think gun owners are knuckle dragging Neanderthals who deserve no respect or regard from the state or the public. But more of the New Jersey public are reconsidering their thoughts on gun ownership in the light of violent events this year and the dissing of police departments everywhere. So applications for gun permits are at record high levels.

In New Jersey, for instance, applications were up 250% just in the first six months of this year and will continue to rise, given the images we've seen this summer. And who knows what will happen as we get closer to a very heated election coming up. The new budget is in and Uncle Phil had to drop the legal gun owners taxes in favor of other more popular taxes amounting to about $700 million. But those are mostly on corporations and millionaires. You know, those corporations and millionaires that will be smart enough to flee this money gouging state soon enough. Guess who will be holding the bag? Are you near a mirror?