Johnston County Commissioners Intrude on Private Property with New Gun Regulations

A recent NBC 17 story reveals that Johnston County commissioners unanimously approved a measure to enact more gun restrictions that regulates gun use on private property. Provisions of the new law include:

• Bans discharging a firearm carelessly and heedlessly, so as to endanger any person or property, or so that the projectile crosses the property of another person without that person’s permission.
• Bans firearm use by those intoxicated by a controlled substance, as determined by an investigating officer.
• Bans gun use from two hours after sunset to one hour before sunrise with exceptions for turkey shoots and similar fundraisers.

Commissioners cited increased county growth as making it necessary to regulate gun use on one’s property to protect nearby homes as the reasoning behind the new law. As expected, many Johnston County residents and gun owners are unhappy about the intrusion into their rights. Johnston County resident Jim Rockwell summed it up pretty well when he said:

“If you want to make this New Jersey, you’re taking the right path. You need to be deliberate about looking at things that impact people’s constitutional rights; their state’s rights and their way of life.”

This is just another example of unnecessary and reactionary government regulation that intrudes on and diminishes the rights of law-abiding citizens in the name of public safety. Not only are officials imposing themselves on residents’ constitutional rights, but also inviting themselves onto others’ private property. While this measure may seem small in the grand scheme of things, the slow chipping away of individual rights, and growth of government oversight, greatly impacts us all as elected officials search for more opportunities to restrict freedom of choice and personal rights.