NJ ‘Walking While Texting’ Law Highlights Connection Between Gun Control and People Control

New Jersey residents who want to carry a firearm — legally — must specify in detail “the urgent necessity for self-protection, as evidenced by specific threats or previous attacks which demonstrate a special danger to the applicant’s life that cannot be avoided by means other than by issuance of a permit to carry a handgun.” The state also maintains a de facto handgun registry and bans “assault weapons” and hollow point ammo (outside the home). Magazine capacity limits? Them too. In short, NJ is where gun rights go to die. So it’s no surprise then . . .

that the Garden State is considering passing a law making it illegal to walk while texting (as illustrated in the photo above). nydailynews.com:

Crossing the street in New Jersey with your eyes glued to your smartphone could mean spending 15 days in jail, paying a $50 fine, or both, in a “distracted walking” bill introduced by state assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt.

“Distracted pedestrians, like distracted drivers, present a potential danger to themselves and drivers on the road,” Lampitt said. “An individual crossing the road distracted by their smartphone presents just as much danger to motorists as someone jaywalking and should be held, at minimum, to the same penalty.”

The proposed measure would ban walking while texting and prohibit pedestrians on public roads from using their smartphones unless they’re hands-free.

Half of the $50 fine would go to safety education about the dangers of walking and texting, the lawmaker said.

While there’s no doubt that texting while walking can be deadly — as this grisly footage proves  — the philosophy underlying the NJ law is even more dangerous. Once a government gets in the habit of passing punitive, prohibitive laws in the name of protecting people from themselves, there’s no limit to the liberty it can claim in the name of “public safety.”

Not to put too fine a point on it, gun rights are the metaphorical canary in the coal mine. Any government that degrades and destroys its citizens’ natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms is on a slippery slope to tyranny. It’s a shorter step than you might think from a government deciding when you can text to what you can text. While disarmed, of course.


  1. avatar mike says:

    Next NJ laws…

    Illegal to think about guns

    Illegal to breath while registered as a Republican

    1. avatar Ebby123 says:

      ^^ THIS.

      History teaches us over and over again that when Statists finally realize that no amount of legislation or increase of state control can create the “perfect citizens” they wish to have, they always arrive at same conclusion: Some humans are just too human to fit in our perfect society – its time to start removing the “undesirables”.

      Usually this starts with quarantine and “Re-education” in barbed-wire camps – though this stage has often been optional when the ruling party deems it unfeasible.

      The next (and final step) is always the same. Mass murder. Outright Genocide – to eliminate the “undesirable” problem once and for all. Sometimes this is done with sterile gas chambers, sometimes by hordes of government workers with machetes.

      I highly recommend the book “Emergency Sex and other desperate measures” by Kenneth Cain. It is a compilation of the diaries of three U.N. humanitarian aid workers during the conflicts in Somalia, Haiti, and Bosnia.


      Its not paranoia if its a documented, repeatable pattern.

  2. avatar Mk10108 says:

    Nothing more than evolution taking its course. If one cannot adapt to new technology why should government care about culling the herd?

    1. avatar Mark N. says:

      What you are suggesting that this proposed law is not a new law, but an attempt to repeal Darwin’s Law, right?

      1. avatar Mk10108 says:

        why yes, that is an interesting perspective. Falls in line with Government wanting to preserve stupid people.

        1. avatar Tom in Oregon says:

          Kind of like the opposite of eugenics…

        2. avatar Bosko Dewlapp says:

          Back in the 1960’s, the democrats controlling Congress gave stupid people endangered species protections. Little wonder that the Nation is now overrun with stupid people.

  3. avatar Jared says:

    Maybe the correlation is that NJ has the dumbest people in America. They just think they are smart but they are too dumb to realize they are being fleeced.

    Can we give NJ to North Korea or Mozambique?

    1. avatar Parnell says:

      NJ has no corner on stupidity. Go to any major city in the country and try to walk down the street without plowing over some A-hole on a cell phone. I’ll admit our gun laws suck but I stay for the beaches. Someday Florida but for now NJ. Instead of a state, why don’t we give you away?

      1. avatar Jared says:

        Parnell, give me away. I do too much for the 2A community, like today’s ruling in the Marianas Islands.

        Besides, I’m not voting for dumbass democrats…. Your sorry and dumpy state is.

        So yes, The Congo can have NJ.

    2. avatar Chris says:

      We should try giving NJ to America. Welcome to Pennsylvania.

  4. avatar Wood says:

    And people think Florida is screwed. If it is it’s because of New Jersey residents moving here.

  5. avatar TruthTellers says:

    hollow points are legal to own in New Jersey, they just can’t be possessed with a firearm outside of one’s home.

    Still, NJ is 2A Hell.

    1. avatar Geoff PR says:

      You can defend yourself with HP inside your NJ home?

      1. avatar Jim says:

        I’m told that HP’s are legal for “Hunting and target shooting”, not self defense. The law was written so that when someone was arrested for firearm offenses, it was something else to add more charges against the perp. I use Hornady Critical Defense rounds in the night stand gun…the Mossberg 500 doesn’t need them.

    2. avatar Wood says:

      Can you use them with a slingshot?

      1. avatar Jim says:

        Slingshots have been illegal, like forever, in NJ

        1. avatar Wood says:

          So much for childhood. Bet BB guns are “registered” and controlled too.

    3. avatar Brick says:

      They can be.


      This does not touch on home defense but I was told it was legal to have it at home.

  6. avatar Geoff PR says:

    Next on deck, the iOS text-to-speech and speech-to-text app for $9.99, ready to turn “Are you..” into “R U…”…

  7. avatar Mad Max says:

    If there is a government in need of being abolished, it is the state government of New Jersey.

    When are the citizens of New Jersey going to rise up in revolution against tyranny?

    Maybe with the help of a future national government that protects liberty (don’t hold your breath).

    1. avatar Rob says:

      They don’t have enough guns, (or the balls to use them) since Tony Soprano died.

  8. avatar Sam I Am says:

    The government already has unlimited ability to restrict your freedom. Once Obamacare passed (universal healthcare for all intents and purposes), controlling costs became the important element in order to “bend the healthcare cost curve down”. Controlling costs means not only stripping funding, but reducing coverage based on lifestyle choices. Thus, all personal behavior became a healthcare issue. The federal government then went on to provide total garbage for school lunched (public health). You can be denied treatment for whatever the government rules is unhealthy behavior. So let’s look at two details of the NJ law:
    – Jaywalking is a public health issue (says so in the statutes)
    – Walking while texting, extended from jaywalking poses a serious threat to public safety (law will be passed).

    Government run, controlled, paid healthcare will kill us all. “If you think healthcare was expensive before, just wait until it is free.”

    1. avatar Kendahl says:

      That’s already happening in a variety of ways.

      To get lower health insurance rates for its employees, a city in western Nebraska tried to eliminate coverage for certain “dangerous” activities. One of them was horseback riding. Remember that western Nebraska is cowboy country. People who live there may not have much else but they have a horse or two in the back yard. The town quickly backed down but you can see their mind set.

      Your credit score affects how much you pay for car insurance. The argument is that people who are irresponsible with money also are irresponsible behind the wheel. Unfortunately, that means that someone who has a hard time making ends meet is charged more for insurance regardless of his driving record.

      Private employers do the same.

      My boss at one company was a private pilot. So was the son of the CEO. After the CEO’s son died in a flying accident, the CEO went to employees who flew and told them to stop. It was understood that their jobs depended on complying with this order. After the CEO moved on, my boss resumed flying.

      A friend told me that, where he worked, you had no chance of promotion to executive ranks unless you were married with children. Singles were considered not to be sufficiently responsible.

  9. avatar Jonathan - Houston says:

    This is why I say gun rights matter to you, even if they don’t matter to you. Firearms freedom is the core of the relationship between governed and government. Most everything else is at best uniquely derivative of that.

    No place is perfect, of course, but when the State gets guns right, expect it to get more of the the rest right than not. When the State is rabid dog mad regarding firearms freedom, expect every aspect of your life there to be dictated to you.

  10. avatar FedUp says:

    “Once a government gets in the habit of passing punitive, prohibitive laws in the name of protecting people from themselves…”

    You mean, like seat belt laws?

    1. avatar Alex waits says:


  11. avatar Alex waits says:

    Nope, notta, do not pass go, do not collect 200 doll hairs.

    The people of these united states have no use for a government that injects itself into the lives of the citizens of said states, creating laws and regulations that only seek to further their own power, will, ultimately create an environment toxic to free thinkers and morale peoples.

  12. avatar Bob314 says:

    Hmm, if everything that could be dangerous to society is illegal, doesn’t that mean being an employee of the state of New Jersey ought to be illegal too? Considering the kind of crap they tend to pull, it ought to be a felony. Just saying…

  13. avatar Geoff PR says:

    “You deserve to come from New Jersey”

    Gilda Radner as Roseanne Rosannadanna in a classic SNL sketch…

  14. avatar Mudshark says:

    The seat belt law is a pet peave of mine. I have been to Jersey once, that was enuff.Haha just told wife about the texting law, her reply”What? You gotta be shtting, who in the hell made that?”

  15. avatar Wrightl3 says:

    Can we just pull NJ’S star off of theflag already?

  16. avatar Fred says:

    Global warming might take care of that state. Can’t jaywalk if it’s under water.

    1. avatar Wood says:

      No texting while scuba!

  17. avatar Badwolf says:

    RF, in a litigious society, it’s also possible NJ is trying to cover its a$$… It won’t save any lives but at least you can establish liability when an accident happens.

    1. avatar JR_in_NC says:

      How is the state liable in a civil suit between a pedestrian and a driver?

      Or, are you saying…someone will sue the state because they didn’t have a law they claim would have saved their loved one’s life?

      As I think about it, that may not be so far from their motivation…It’s stupid as all get-all, Statist as can be and narcissistic to boot.

  18. avatar Wood says:

    As if I needed yet another reason to drive *around* NJ. Another place we need to wall in so the residents can’t come ruin my state.

  19. avatar billy-bob says:

    Just let them win a Darwin award, problem will eventually solve itself.

  20. avatar Jack says:

    How about a “Voting While Democrat” law?

    If we have learned anything from blue jurisdictions like Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, New Orleans, … , it is that they become total hellholes under Dem control. Hellholes are dangerous to your health, ergo we must ban voting by Democrats for their own safety. Q.E.D.

    For the benefit of you libtards out there the above referenced statements were meant as a joke. Of course if you hadn’t grown up eating lead paint, you would probably have realized this by now.

  21. avatar Rusty Chains says:

    The worst thing about New Jersey is that it leaks. If we could just bottle it up and let no one out, maybe we could keep the stupid from polluting other states. Poor Florida has a bad case of New Jersey I lived in Florida for a year and a half and came back to sounding like I had been stuck in Jersey!

    1. avatar lasttoknow says:

      In 1992, the US Peace Corps trained volunteers in Camden, NJ.; seen as perfect training for third world countries. NYT 9Nov1992.

      Wonder if it has changed,

  22. avatar Hannibal says:

    Eventually a cop will try and stop someone for that violation (enforcing the law as written) and something bad will happen. Maybe the pedestrian decides it’s a stupid law (it is) and tells the cop to sod off. He won’t provide ID for a summons, so the cop goes to arrest him. The guy, who maybe happens to be a 45 year old man in poor health (fat, etc) resists the arrest and ends up dying. The officer was white, the pedestrian happened to be black. The ME says he suffered a heart attack but BLM trumpets that he was choked or beaten to death. More unrest. More riots. Calls from lawmakers in NJ for police reform.

    All this without any legislator standing up and saying the obvious: every one of these stupid laws will, eventually, get someone killed. Maybe it’ll really be the suspect’s fault. Or maybe it’ll be the cop’s fault. Or maybe a truck driver who wasn’t paying attention and flattened them both. But for this law, the situation would not have been there in the first place. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have any laws for that reason but I’m so tired of everyone writing these ‘chickenshit’ things without even talking about what can happen.

  23. avatar Jeff says:

    I have the current misfortune of living in New Jersey, so I can tell you some of why it is so bad.
    The working middle-class fled New Jersey when the economy turned for the worst. many companies ‘merged’, fled New Jersey, or their manufacturing moved overseas.
    The majority of the people who remained in this over-crowded, expensive state are yuppies who work in New York City, soccer-moms, immigrants with history of gun ownership, and the multi-generational urban poor.
    With that type of constituency, politicans have little fear of repercussions for supporting various gun control measures with the ultimate goal of an all-out ban on gun ownership.

    1. avatar Jeff says:

      *I mean to say “Immigrants with no history of gun ownership”.

  24. avatar Groutboy says:

    Well, it just doesn’t stop there. It seams political folks in both parties have been promoting another form of backdoor gun control/anti -2nd amendment nonsense. Most recently, one of my relatives. A retiree, lawfull US citizen, Vet. , and an ex-chief of security for an armed security detachment for a gated community. Now retired in a senior citizens apartment complex in MA…Funny thing happened, all the seniors got new leases for this year. Guess what kind of clause it had in the lease. A complete ban on all 2nd amendment activities on the property, and within the renters home. The property management company stated that “they ” would be prohibiting possession of all Lawful firearms, collectable knives, or swords, or anything that could be used as a weapon. And the property management company informed the seniors that they couldn’t petition the company for complaints, and if they don’t comply. It was their way, or the highway. Something that easy intimidates a 70 year old retiree on a fixed income. My relative doesn’t even own anything! But , as a matter of principal. They wanted to challenge it. As my relative said we’re heading down a road of “Creeping Incrementalism. ” If it was “no smoking ” around the buildings. Then inside the renters apartment. Then it was place or maintaining religious items around your home, or anywhere that might offend another. The next time it could be your sock drawer, what you read, or removing your bathroom door, or surprise inspections. A prison mentality. According to my relative, the local police department was granted master keys to all renters front doors!? Well, my family decided to call GOAL, a supposed pro2@ group to see if they could help. HA! Thought I called the DNC! Gave use some fuzzy-logic that these happens all the time!? That renters, like employees, could be deprived of their civil liberties by other private citizens because they are on their property. GOAL rep. likened it to living with mom and dad under their roof. You have to do what they say?!? Since when! Deprivation of Rights is still an infringement regardless of whether or not it’s do by the government, or another private citizen! Discrimination against renters?! Not all homeowners own their houses out right—owned by a bank, credit union, or mortgage brokers! According to GOAL, only independent homeowners have 2nd amendment rights! ? The NRA was only slightly better. Calling these circumstances complicated….Really!!! What’s so hard to understand about civil rights infringements!? Boy America is need of a serious reboot!!!!

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