Lonegan Decries Hollywood’s Role in Gun Violence at Trenton Rally

Republican Congressional Candidate Defends Constitutional Rights of Law-Abiding Americans

Trenton, N.J. – Mayor Steve Lonegan took aim at the Hollywood entertainment industry as he delivered a powerful address in defense of the Bill of Rights at a rally of New Jersey gun owners today.

Lonegan stated that the entertainment industry has been “purposely marketing violent media content to children” for years, despite knowing the psychological impacts of inundating young people with violent imagery.

The 5th District Congressional Candidate also reiterated his calls for beefed up security measures in the state’s schools – specifically, bullet-proof doors for every classroom — to protect the lives of students, faculty and staff.

Instead of pursuing real solutions like these to address the issue of school security, Lonegan said the Left has been “us[ing] these acts of violence to raise money and to promote their agenda of restricting firearm ownership among law-abiding citizens,” and to “demon[ize] groups like the NRA.”

Mayor Lonegan’s complete remarks can be found below.

Statement of Steve Lonegan
Second Amendment Rally
Trenton War Memorial
March 26, 2018

Hello to my friends and allies who want to preserve and defend the Second Amendment of our Bill of Rights, of our American Constitution. Thank you all for being here today.

For nearly twenty years, America has suffered a series of terrible school shootings in which a criminal or criminals have broken numerous firearm laws to murder innocent children and teachers. This hits home with me, personally. My wife is a school teacher.

The Left has used these acts of violence to raise money and to promote their agenda of restricting firearm ownership among law abiding citizens. They have demonized groups like the NRA, even though none of the murderers has been an NRA member. On the contrary, these murderers have often been people firmly on the ideological Left.

In the aftermath of the Columbine Massacre nearly twenty years ago, President Bill Clinton starting asking some serious questions. Now I am no fan of Bill Clinton, but he must be given credit for looking further, asking questions, and uncovering why violence is on the rise in every culture touched by the Hollywood entertainment industry.

There were many studies by psychologists on how violent media content acts as a drug on childhood development and how it alters a child’s brain. Studies show the effects of subjecting an average child to 200,000 acts of media violence — including 40,000 murders –by the time he or she turns 18.

All the studies — and the media’s own marketing documents — showed that the entertainment industry was purposely marketing violent media content to children. The evidence was there, so Clinton ordered a study by the Federal Trade Commission which backed up the earlier findings.

The Hollywood entertainment industry responded by increasing its campaign contributions by 1,000 percent and spending hundreds of millions on lobbying and soft money to convince Congress to forget every study it had ever read. It also started to pour money into the campaign of a first term Senator named Barack Obama.

If you doubt the power of Hollywood, just look at what happened in Committee last week. A state Assembly Committee pushed through a 10-round limit on magazines — but not before they gave a special exemption to Hollywood, that allowed the use of large capacity magazines “for motion pictures, television, or video productions.”

So it is okay to hook kids on large capacity magazines but not okay to have a large capacity magazine in your home when the kids they hooked go bonkers and try a home invasion?

I take school safety very personally, because my wife is a teacher. She does drills with her students in which they lock a flimsy door, the children crouch in a corner, and my wife’s body is supposed to be their shield if the bullets start flying. That’s crazy.

And that’s why I’m working with Senator Steve Oroho and other legislators to come up with ways to harden the security of our classrooms. To put a bullet-proof lock and a steel door between a wannabe murderer and a classroom full of children. To anchor that door into the structure — so that my wife’s body isn’t the last shield of defense.

Instead of trying to take away the rights of law-abiding citizens, how about addressing the problem of school security? Isn’t that something we all could work for? We’ll lead. Let’s see if the Left follows.

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