It's a pretty sad state of affairs when one guy gets a gun permit in New Jersey and it's so shocking and rare that it makes the newspaper. Carry permits issued in New Jersey are extremely rare unless of course you are rich or politically connected. If you happen to live in New Jersey though, don't get your hopes up too high. This was apparently a special circumstance, and regular folks still have a snowball's chance in hell of getting permission to carry a gun in New Jersey.

A Warren County ship captain may carry a concealed weapon in New Jersey waters and ports, state Superior Court Judge John Pursel ruled Wednesday.

The judge cited the post-Sept. 11 world of terrorist threats and the recent rise in the terrorist alert system as part of the reason for his decision to grant the carrying permit.

The County Prosecutor's office lobbied against the permit. While they agreed that ships may be a terror target they dismissed the threat and offered their own solution to domestic terrorism.

Cunningham argued in part that New Jersey citizens are not entitled to a carrying permit based only on "generalized fears" or "to protect property." [He should be tarred and feathered for such a statement]

But the judge found Atanasio's concerns are much broader.

"It is about protecting the public interest by protecting people or the infrastructure in light of the genuine threats which have been disseminated daily to the public," the judge wrote.

The assistant prosecutor argued trained security professionals are available to protect ships.

That's right, only trained professionals should be allowed to protect the public. Your average Joe Citizen is too incompetent to be trusted with a firearm. Maybe the all powerful government could provide every citizen with a trained (make that government trained and unionized) guardian angel who has the elite commando training that it takes to handle something so complex and mysterious as the modern firearm. To pay for it we'll just go out and seize some more tax money from the evil, hated, rich.