Hello, friends,
It’s been 23 years since the shooting at Columbine High School, nearly 10 years since the massacre at Newtown and four years since the killings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
What’s changed since then? Only the behavior of children. We haven’t asked gun owners to change their behavior, to hand over their weapons of war, or passed new federal laws on background checks and red-flag laws.
In the two decades since Columbine, only the children and teachers have been forced to change. An entire generation of today’s adults grew up with active shooter drills, being trained to hide or fight, while adults carry on about their rights. Teachers who some argue can’t be trusted to decide on curriculum are expected to -- and do -- sacrifice their lives for students.
An entire generation raised as combatants in a war between common sense and guns. It’s a war they’ll never win.
New Jersey already has among the strictest gun laws in the nation, and so far has been mercifully spared a mass tragedy like the one that unfolded in Uvalde, Texas. Is it a cause-and-effect situation? I can’t say for sure.
Murphy wants to see our gun laws tightened even further, calling for an age limit, ID cards and other restrictions. It’s hard to argue against those kinds of measures.
What we can’t allow is our public schools being turned into secure, prison-like facilities, with cameras and armed police officers, those “good guys with guns” who are supposed to be able to stop would-be shooters.
It didn’t work in Parkland, where the school resource officer hid, and it didn’t work in Uvalde, Texas, where frustrated and panicked onlookers pleaded with cops assembled outside the school to rush in and stop the massacre. Why do we think more cops in schools would work here?
Also this week, a Jif recall, more places to buy weed, where you can use it at the beach, Long Branch party problems, and a death in the Jersey family:
PB RECALL: Check your pantry, peanut butter lovers. Jif has a major recall underway, and it’s expanding to other products involving peanut butter, like fruit snack packs. As long as they don’t come for my Reese’s cups, we’re good.
MORE WEED: A new crop of adult use weed dispensaries have been approved to open, which is a good thing because those block-long lines at Curaleaf in Bellmawr are a drag, man.
HIGH TIMES: Just because it’s legal now doesn’t mean you can just smoke weed anywhere -- especially not on smoke-free beaches. (This means you, too, cigar guys.) Here’s your guide. One word: Edibles.
PARTY’S OVER: Officials in Long Branch, which saw a massive influx of party-goers in Pier Village last weekend drawn by a TikTok callout, are blaming the social media platform and warning folks not to come back this week looking for a hangout.
GOODBYE RAY: The blue-eyed actor Ray Liotta, who created a legendary character as Henry Hill in “Goodfellas,” died in his sleep at age 67. Liotta was from Jersey, born in Newark and growing up in Union Township. May he rest in peace.
Finally -- and I mean finally -- the state is moving to remove residents from and revoke the license the long-troubled Woodland Behavioral and Nursing Center, which was once known as Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center. Owners changed the name after the discovery of 17 bodies in a makeshift morgue during the early days of the COVID crisis.
Despite the attempt at rebranding the facility, problems at Woodland remained, court filings show. The state will move to close it.
The moves follow the reporting by our Susan Livio and Ted Sherman, who have steadily documented the horrors of life and death inside the facility. Your support helps make that journalism happen, and we thank you.
Have a peaceful Memorial Day weekend.
P.S.: Headed to the Shore for the holiday? You’ll be hungry. Bring this list with you!
