There's One Right Conservatives and Liberals Alike Don't Want Me to Have. I Tried to Find Out Why.

A person raised in Newark, New Jersey, learned that being unarmed was safer, with the belief that people with knives get stabbed and people with guns get shot. After 9/11, they internalized the idea that being friendly and non-threatening was essential for survival, including visible gestures like displaying American flags at a mosque. As an adult, they became curious about gun culture and applied for a New Jersey Firearm Purchaser Identification permit in 2020. After extensive steps and months of waiting, they were told to withdraw the application due to a misdemeanor trespassing charge in New York. They believed the charge should not disqualify them under New Jersey law, but the Newark Police Department firearm permitting office insisted on withdrawing the application and framed it as a favor.

"I grew up in Newark, New Jersey, where there was this saying: People with knives get stabbed. People with guns get shot. The conventional wisdom was that it was safer to be unarmed. If someone mugged you, just give them what you've got."

"Like many Muslim families after 9/11, I internalized the idea that being inviting and performatively friendly was more essential for survival than anything else. At my mosque growing up, the imam bought a box of American flags of all sizes and handed them out to worshippers. He hung one outside the mosque, and people stuck them in their car windows. Anything to not seem like a threat."

"So in 2020, I applied for a Firearm Purchaser Identification, a permit to purchase a firearm that is required in New Jersey. After fingerprints, references, application fees, and months of waiting, I was told over the phone that I had no choice but to withdraw my application. The issue was a misdemeanor trespassing charge in New York from my street-photographer days."

"Under New Jersey law, that should not have disqualified me from owning a gun. I had never been convicted of a felony. No domestic violence charges. No mental health issues. It didn't matter. The Newark Police Department's firearm permitting office told me my application was being withdrawn. They insisted they were doing me a favor, and that a denial"

Read at Slate Magazine