City Mandates Small Restaurants Hire Armed Guards…or They Must Close Down Early | Breaking news and opinion on The Blaze

Newark needs to close a $45M budget gap but rather than attempting to entice businesses to the city it is attacking its tax base by burdening them with a requirement to hire armed security guards. 

God rest his soul but this Officer was an idiot. If I could lawfully carry a gun in New Jersey I would do so especially if I was in a crime ridden city like Newark. But he didn't and now he is dead. 

The new law should be that any police officer in the State of New Jersey whether off duty or on duty must be armed if they are in Newark. 

In New Jersey only police officers and certain friends of politicians are allowed to carry concealed. Even armed security guards are only allowed to be armed when they are working. By the way most of the armed security guards are New Jersey police officers who are moonlighting so rather than giving a pay raise to Newark cops the city council just got them part time gigs working as security guards in the city which already pays them. 

Welcome to New Jersey a place where only the thugs and cops have guns.

A new Newark, New Jersey, city council law will require small restaurants to have an armed security guard posted at night. The move — which is already yielding controversy — comes after William, Johnson, an off-duty police officer was killed in a drive-by shooting at the Texas Fried Chicken and Pizza restaurant back in May. Mail Online writes:

Mr Johnson, 45, a single father raising two daughters, was off-duty and unarmed when a pair of assailants fired into the Lyons Avenue restaurant from a slow-rolling car.
He was apparently caught in the crossfire of a gang dispute.

This new regulation, which passed unanimously, says that any restaurant that serves 15 or fewer people must hire an armed guard after 9 p.m. If they do not comply or if paying someone to stand guard is not a financial possibility, food establishments must close by 10 p.m. each evening. Reuters has more:

“If they want to stay open that late, they should provide security. If not, they should close,” said Councilman Ras Baraka, who wrote the bill, in a telephone interview.

“These restaurants who serve 15 or less people, walk-in eateries where you get your food and you leave, they are havens for criminal activity,” said Keith Hamilton, an aide to Baraka.

City Mandates Small Restaurants Hire Armed Guards…or They Must Close Down Early | Breaking news and opinion on The Blaze