To the editor:
I write today concerned by recent attacks against me over the issue of gun safety and gun violence and saddened that politics has sunk to such a level that people will make any attack, regardless of the facts or basic human compassion, in an attempt to win a campaign.
When I was younger I was the victim of a violent crime. I am now the mother of two children in our schools. As both a victim and a mother, I share the concerns of every parent over gun violence, and never want to see any person, particularly a child, hurt by senseless acts. For anyone to claim otherwise in an effort to score a few political points is wrong, hurtful and intentionally manipulative.
Perhaps as disheartening as the cheap nature of these attacks is the fact that even a quick glance at my record as a legislator proves my commitment to bipartisan rational solutions on this issue.
New Jersey currently has the strongest gun safety laws in the nation. Assault weapons that have been used in recent shootings around the country are and have been banned in New Jersey since the early 1990s, well prior to my entering the Assembly.
Notwithstanding that fact, I was the very first sponsor in the legislature of a bill to further enhance our already strict laws by banning “bump stocks” in New Jersey. In the Assembly, I joined with Democrats and Republicans to vote yes to commonsense measures that include such things as background checks on private gun sales, requirements for the safe storage of firearms, extreme risk protection orders that help get guns out of the hands of people who pose a threat to themselves or others, measures that ensure the safety of domestic violence victims, and more.
I separately hosted a robust bipartisan regional roundtable, “Gun Laws and School Safety,” in Westwood with panelists from the NJEA, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, the Bergen County Police Chiefs, the New Jersey School Boards Association, the New Jersey Association on School Resource Officers, and others.
I have also participated in school safety discussions across our state, including at District 39’s Lakeland Regional High School. I am the prime sponsor of a package of bills specifically addressing more stringent security in all our schools.
With today’s ever-deepening political divide it is crucial that we work cooperatively and intelligently to find solutions to the challenges we face. That is what I have done on this issue and countless others. I have faith the people of our community are smart enough to look past the hateful rhetoric and make informed decisions.