After Newtown, How Do You Feel About Gun Control?

Post-Newtown, municipalities are passing resolutions supporting the banning of assault weapons and the sale of large-capacity magazines to private citizens.

With federal legislation on gun control pending, Fort Lee is unique in that it has a native who has spent much of his professional career immersed in gun control. Robert Tessaro, the nephew of former Fort Lee Police Chief Thomas Tessaro and the son of former Municipal Court Judge Robert T. Tessaro, was among a group of Fort Lee High School students at the time who started a petition supporting the proposed ban on assault weapons.

Tessaro is now the president and founder of Safe School Technologies and a recognized expert on youth violence prevention. He is the former Director of Law Enforcement Relations for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and remains active with the Brady Center and promoting what he calls "sensible gun laws."

Tessaro is also the former Executive Director of the New Jersey Association of School Resource Officers (NJASRO) and has served on the Firearms Committee for the International Association Chiefs of Police (IACP), which he called “the major police chiefs’ association in the United States.”

Shortly after the Newtown massacre, Tessaro told Patch that the dialogue “does seem different,” and that he’s “cautiously optimistic that something is going to get done” with regard to gun control.

According to Tessaro, states that have more guns have more gun crime. States that have more sensible gun laws on the books have less gun crime.

Even Mayors who support the Second Amendment's protection of a citizen's right to bear and keep arms, such as Mayor Ann Subrizi of New Milford, post Newtown are vocal about the banning of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines by private citizens.

Stressing that she is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, Subrizi said that she can "no longer support the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines" to private citizens.

Do you support the banning of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines to private citizens? Tell us in the comments.