The embrace of Big Brother has just gotten larger

Big Brother, in the person of our Federal, and if you live in New Jersey, state governments has just gotten a lot more intrusive, in the name of fighting crime.

Joined by state and federal officials at a news conference at state police headquarters, Corzine said the state would now have real-time electronic access to a database maintained by the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that lists a gun’s first buyer, date of sale, and the retailer from which it was purchased.

Yeah, I guess if we can’t repeal that nasty old Tiahrt Amendment, we’ll just ignore the shit out of it.

Attorney General Anne Milgram yesterday said she was directing all local law-enforcement departments in the state to fully comply by forwarding their tracing information, which will go into a database shared by all Jersey law enforcement.

Of course she is. If we don’t control everyone, if we don’t know each and every detail about each and every person, why, government might just fall apart. (We should be so lucky.)

It should also be noted that, in the Liberal Tradition (you know, get an inch, take a mile), New Jersey Congresscreatures Lautenburn and Menendez have asked for what they call “clarification”. In reality, they want more, more, more paths to gun control:

In their letter, Sens. Lautenberg and Menendez called on the ATF to clarify their cooperation with New Jersey by allowing:

• Local and county law enforcement agencies, and not just the state police, to access eTrace information for other jurisdictions.
• New Jersey law enforcement to receive information on guns recovered outside the state.
• Agencies accessing eTrace information to share that information with other law enforcement agencies.

So how does this effect us, Joe Gunowner? Well, if you’re a resident of NJ, prepare to be assimilated. If you buy a gun from a dealer, you’re going to be a part of this wonderful new database. Take comfort from the fact that you’re helping to catch criminals. Better yet would be to move to a state where you’re freedom is at least takend for granted a little less than it is there.

If you live in the rest of the country and you’ve ever bought a gun at a dealer and then sold it at some later point (or had it stolen, or disposed of it in any manner), you’ll get enshrined if the umpteenth purchaser down the line from you uses it to commit a crime in NJ and gets caught. Enjoy that visit from the ATF, FBI or other alphabet soup agency.

As a possible topper, the NRA is said to have no issue with this:

A spokesman for the National Rifle Association, Andrew Arulanandam, said the group had no problem with the agreement as long as New Jersey did not violate federal laws that allow only law enforcement officers — not the public — to have access to tracing information.

Andrew Arulanandam can be found in the NRA-ILA website referenced as their Director of Public Affairs. However, that same search shows he hasn’t been quoted by them since 2005. Is there something fishy here? Unknown, but I think it may be time for all us NRA members to ask the NRA-ILA some uncomfortable questions so we can find out the truth. You can bet your last round of ammo that I am, and letting them know my future membership and support hinges on their answers.