Would make it a 2A sanctuary city
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
NORTHFIELD — City Council is expected to consider adopting a resolution supporting the Second Amendment to the Constitution during its next meeting, scheduled for March 2.
The Second Amendment guarantees, in part, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed upon.”
A draft resolution discussed Feb. 16 states “while the Common Council of the city of Northfield fully supports and promotes gun safety and lawful gun ownership and use, it is opposed to any legislation that could have the effect of infringing on the rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms and that may be contrary to those rights provided by the Second Amendment.”
The resolution was created by Councilman Dave Notaro at the urging of the gun-rights group Atlantic County 2A Grass Roots Organization, a local chapter of the Garden State 2A Grass Roots Organization. The group approached council last spring but under the leadership of Frank Perri, who was council president with a one-vote majority, it was not even entertained.
Notaro said he and Councilman Paul Utts worked together to make changes to the draft resolution, which now will support the right to gun ownership while making statements about the need for safety, education and product liability.
“I wanted it to be a bipartisan thing where we’re all in agreement and everybody puts their 2 cents into the resolution,” Notaro said. “We put some of [Utts’] wording in the resolution.”
The Garden State 2A Grass Roots Organization is just one of numerous groups across the country working to ensure Americans can continue to buy, sell and stockpile firearms.
“They are getting towns, counties and states to be a grass-roots supporter of the Second Amendment,” Notaro said, acknowledging that finding consensus on the subject among the public is a tough task.
He said the Constitution grants Americans the right to own firearms but that he also believes efforts should be made to keep guns out of the wrong hands.
Notaro said President Joe Biden “came out with this plan for federal gun control. Now, some of the stuff in his plan might be great, and I might agree with him on some of this stuff — I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be stringent laws on who’s allowed to have a gun. There are people out there who shouldn’t have guns — but the responsibilities fall upon people that are not handling them properly, legal or not legal,” he said.
While Notaro said he may agree with some gun control measures, he does not agree that assault rifles should be banned.
“Now some people might think that’s great — I’m not one of those people and I’m entitled to my opinion as an American, and I think I’m right,” Notaro said. “I think that’s completely wrong. I have one and there are 20 million more just like mine out there.”
He acknowledged gun violence is a problem but said citizens need a way to keep the government from taking over.
“It’s a touchy situation for a lot of people. I understand that and I understand when people are out shooting kids and these horrible things happen — I get it,” Notaro said, but “if we give these politicians the power to just change it, we won’t have guns anymore in our country and it’s an infringement of our rights.”
Notaro believes that people bent on violence will find any way necessary to commit it, saying guns should not be singled out.
“I understand there are some serious acts out there of violence, and there’s people being violent in many different ways. There’s people clubbing people, there’s people … you can go on and on and on. You can run a car into a group of people, but to single out a gun and responsible gun owners is infringing on your Second Amendment rights, no ifs, and or buts about it.”
At the same time, Notaro said he thinks more education and safety measures are needed.
Utts, who has a degree in environmental health, said he sees gun violence as a public health issue.
“I get that our country is rooted in firearms and they’re not going anywhere anytime soon since we have more firearms in this country than we do people, but there is just a difference in opinion as to what exactly commonsense gun control is about,” he said.
Utts said there are 32,000 gun deaths a year in the U.S., 65 percent of which are self-inflicted, so he felt it was important the resolution contain a line about meaningful and affordable mental health care.
He said Notaro took that out.
“I think it’s an important part of acknowledging that guns are a public health issue because we lose almost as many citizens a year to guns as we do to automobiles,” he said.
Utts also said he pushed for language about product liability, noting that plastic bags have a warning on them stating they are not toys but that guns, which are designed to kill, have no such warning. He believes that if victims of gun violence were able to sue manufacturers the companies quickly would find a way to make them safer.
“Cars didn’t get safer because automakers had a good heart; cars got safer because they got sued,” Utts said, adding that the
same should apply to gun owners.
“Gun owners should have to have some sort of liability insurance to cover — just as you do with your automobile — any damage that’s done with a product that can certainly cause damage,” he said. “So far gun manufacturers have been excluded from product liability, and I just don’t understand that. So, I asked him to include some language that gun manufacturers and responsible gun owners can be held liable for their product or how the product is used.”
Notaro said he agrees with Utts that manufacturers “need to step up and put more money toward it.”
“I’m willing to look at whatever he puts forward, but if he wants unanimous support he is going to have to include some of that language,” Utts said of Notaro.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at City Hall with a work session followed by the formal meeting.