Riding Shotgun With Charlie: RSWC #103 Alexander Roubian

RSWC #103 Alexander Roubian

May 4, 2021

Riding Shotgun With Charlie
#103
Alexander Roubian
New Jersey Second Amendment Society

Alexander and I first met at Gun Rights Policy Conference in 2016 in Tampa. After the conference, we both went with Mark Walters (RSWC #002 & #084) and Alan Gottlieb (RSWC #100) to a radio station to be on Armed American Radio. I’ve also been a fan of the Gun For Hire Radio Podcast, which has had Alexander on several times over the years. When I was heading to NJ to film some other shows, I reached out to Alexander and asked if he’d be up for filming a show.

Alexander had an unfortunate experience which led him to gun ownership. He grew up in a “gun agnostic” house, where guns weren’t really talked about. He was 20 feet away from a gang initiation which involved killing someone, he decided it was time to get a firearm. After seeing the ridiculousness of the process to get a NJ firearm permit, Alex reached out to Frank Fiamingo, founder of New Jersey Second Amendment Society (NJ2AS) and joined the group. Within 5 years of joining the group, Alexander became the president.

Every time I have a passenger from New Jersey in the shotgun seat, we end up talking about how absurd the laws are in that state. Alexander gets into how the New Jersey strict gun laws cause deaths like the woman who had a boyfriend who came out and said he was going to kill her. While he was waiting to get a firearm license, she was killed by him. Just like he said. If the state hadn’t dragged their feet for 43 from when she started the process, she may have been able to save her own life.

Some of the games they play in New Jersey are things like, having to apply but only on Mondays between 9am-11am, saying that you need a good reason that satisfies what the police want, and begging to get a license to possess a handgun. I believe many of the residents call the licensing process a ‘scheme’.

NJ2AS is also working with someone who doesn’t have any criminal violations or history, but they’re still being denied because the chief of police doesn't think it serves the “public interest”. This leads to only “the rich” who can hire an attorney to fight the case will be the only one who can afford to get a carry permit. This is what I call the “gun control loophole”. It’s any method that the anti-gun folks use to make it difficult for someone to get a firearm.

One of the things they have in New Jersey is a banned list of firearms. Massachusetts has something similar, we have a list of firearms we can get from dealers. We can possess those firearms, but we can’t get them through a dealer.

We get into how things work, or don’t work, in New Jersey. If you’re from “Free America”, you’ll be shocked. Alexander explains all the ways the state of New Jersey makes it hard for anyone who wants to get a firearm. Often people suggest leaving states like that. But we need to join NJ2AS to fight in these battleground states.

It is great to hear that the Second Amendment Foundation and the Firearm Policy Coalition are teaming up with NJ2AS to work on cases so the citizens of the state can eventually have the Right to Keep and Bear. With people like Alexander fighting for Rights of gun owners in New Jersey, we need to keep supporting them. Many in New Jersey say “What happens in New Jersey, doesn’t stay in New Jersey!” So if you can, send NJ2AS a donation!

Favorite quotes:

“So the natural progression to that was ‘I don’t want to be that guy. I need to learn how to protect myself and my loved ones’.”

“We have a lot of victories that nobody talks about because they look at New Jersey as a lost cause.”

“The fundamental meaning of the Second Amendment is to bear arms and we do not have the Right to concealed carry in New Jersey.”

“It’s all about deterring you from being able to own a gun.”

New Jersey Second Amendment Society

https://nj2as.org/

NJ2AS Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/NJ2AS

NJ2AS Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/nj2as/

NJ2AS YouTube Channel