Court Halts Enforcement of New Jersey’s Latest Gun Grabs
Jose Nino
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Back in December, A4769 was passed in New Jersey, which turned the whole state into a sensitive place, boosts permit fees, uses social media posts as pretexts to reject permits, and mandates gun owners to obtain insurance that does not appear to exist in the state. Organizations such as the NRA-ILA responded by filing a lawsuit alongside the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs. Subsequently in January, a court issued a temporary restraining order banning the state from enforcing a good portion of these restrictions. On May Today, the court issued a 230-page opinion where it preliminary enjoined the state from enforcing the majority of A4769 until the complete legal proceedings are sorted out.
The court started with the new permitting requirements and enjoined the state from mandating individuals to obtain a $300,000 liability policy prior to obtaining a carry license. It also banned the state from carrying out in-person interviews with the applicant’s character references. On top of that, the court restricted the scope of A4769’s provision that grants the state the power to deny the applicant if it determines the individual “to be lacking the essential character of temperament necessary to be entrusted with a firearm.”
In light of recent developments, the court enjoined the state from enforcing the bans on the following locations per the NRA :
The default ban on private property, which bans the possession of a firearm on all privately-owned property where the public is generally invited onto, i.e., all stores and restaurants:
Public gatherings and permitted events;
Zoos;
Parks, beaches, recreational facilities, and state parks *excluding playgrounds at any of those places;
Libraries and museums;
Places that serve alcohol for on-premise consumption;
Entertainment facilities;
Casinos;
Airport parking lots and curbside drop-off and pickup *but individuals cannot take a firearm into the airport unless they immediately drop it off in a checked bag;
Medical offices and ambulatory care facilities;
Public filming/motion picture locations; and
Inside vehicles.
In a concluding remark, the court determined that A4769 “went too far, becoming the kind of law that Founding Father Thomas Jefferson would have warned against since it ‘disarm[s] only those who are not inclined or determined to commit crimes [and] worsen[s] the plight of the assaulted, but improve[s] those of the assailants.’”
New Jersey is one of the most anti-gun states in the US. It’s currently ranked in 49th place in Guns & Ammo magazine’s best states for gun owners rankings. This is the product of its monolithically Democratic state legislature which passes gun control at will and prevents pro-gun reforms from ever occurring.
At this point, the courts will have to step in to slow down anti-gun momentum in the Garden State.
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