TRENTON, NJ – New Jersey has a huge problem, and it’s not gun violence. Each year, 12,000 New Jerseyans die from the effects of cigarette smoking and secondhand smoke. According to New Jersey Human Services Commissioner Sarah Adelman, in 2022, it is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in New Jersey.
Guns are not New Jersey’s smoking gun, tobacco products are the real killer in the Garden State.
Tobacco Kills At A Rate Twenty Times Higher Than Guns in New Jersey
“Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death and disease in New Jersey, leading to chronic lung disease, heart disease, stroke and cancer.” 11,800 New Jerseyans are killed due to tobacco use every year, according to Adelman, according to a report by New Jersey Spotlight News.
Gun Violence is Declining in New Jersey
If you ask Governor Phil Murphy, the biggest problem regarding premature death in New Jersey is not tobacco smoking, but gun violence, despite 459 people being killed each year by gun in the state of New Jersey. According to a report by the Bergen Record, gun violence is on a sharp decline in New Jersey.
That report states shooting incidents in New Jersey decreased by 19% from 1,057 in 2021 to 857 in 2022, the number of gunshot victims dropped by 25% from 1,413 to 1,059, and gun deaths fell by 17% from 249 to 207, the State Police statistics showed.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Attorney General Matt Platkin have set an unreal goal have having zero shootings in New Jersey, one of the safest states already in America when it comes to gun violence.
“The goal is always to have zero shootings,” Platkin said.“But these numbers show that what we’re doing is working.
Why Effort is Not Being Put to Reducing New Jersey’s Number One Killer: Tobacco Products
Let’s face it, there’s no money in gun ownership in New Jersey. While Murphy is trying to enact gun and ammo taxes, those taxes would collect just $9 million annually, according to the state’s own estimates.
On the other hand, New Jersey’s tobacco tax brings the state an average of 180 million dollars each year. In September of this year alone, the state collected $15 million in tobacco taxes.
It’s not in Phil Murphy’s best interest to attack New Jersey’s biggest killer head-on. That’s why he instead goes after an easy political target: guns.
The tax rate on tobacco products in $2.70 per pack of twenty cigarettes. Governor Murphy wants to raise that tax even higher.
Even when the state is trying to ban cigarettes, it’s worried about revenue, not lives. A recent push to ban menthol cigarettes ban would reportedly cut tax revenue by $205 million, according to a state review.
Death from tobacco is a huge money maker for Governor Phil Murphy and the state of New Jersey. Death by gun doesn’t even register on the state tax rolls.
New Jersey is Saving Revenue, Not Lives
If the governor really cared about saving lives in New Jersey, he would focus instead on the real mass killing weapons of destruction, cigarettes. But since those weapons of mass destruction pay for things like a new fleet of SUVs for the governor and his staff or Taylor Swift tickets, you can bet he’s not about to tackle the real problem that is killing New Jersey.
In fact, he and state legislators are so worried about keeping the cigarette death count going they have abandoned a bill that would have banned smoking in Atlantic City casinos. Why? Because they know smokers would go elsewhere, and that would cut into casino revenue in New Jersey, which generates $500 million per month. Each year, those casinos pay the state an average of $526 million in taxes.