New Jersey: Legislature Passes Holiday Assault on Second Amendment

While people were busy preparing for the holidays, shopping, and spending time with family, anti-gun politicians in Trenton were busy snatching more of your constitutional rights. As we previously reported, Majority Democrats were diligently working on a package of gun control bills during the “lame duck” session. NRA-ILA testified against these bills in committee earlier this month. Unfortunately, anti-gun Democrats successfully pushed four of these bills across the finish line on Monday, and their next stop is the desk of Governor Phil Murphy. These bills do nothing to enhance public safety and are simply another lashing out at the Bruen decision. Please use the Take Action button below to contact Governor Phil Murphy and respectfully urge him to VETO these bills.

The bills in this package include:

S.1425 purports to go after gun traffickers; however, it instead threatens legitimate dealers and others who have followed state-mandated procedures. This bill punishes firearms dealers who “reasonably should know” if a purchaser is prohibited from owning firearms. Every firearm transfer through a licensed dealer must clear a state and federal background check before a gun can be released. How is it that a dealer “reasonably should know” something about a purchaser when the State itself tells the dealer it is OK to transfer the firearm? The bill passed the Assembly 47–25 and goes to the Governor.

A.4975 establishes the crime of possessing digital instructions to illegally manufacture firearms and firearm components. In 2018, Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation banning the use of these digital files. This bill is even worse, as mere possession of the files would result in harsh penalties, even if a person unknowingly “possesses” them on a long-forgotten old computer or email account. The bill passed the Senate 25–12 and will go to the Governor.

A.4978 requires the Attorney General to report data regarding shootings that did not result in bodily injury. This is nothing more than an attempt to manipulate data so it can be used to justify more firearm restrictions in the future. The bill passed the Senate 30–7 and goes to the Governor.

A.4981 permits a court to take additional time to consider pretrial release or pretrial detention when a firearm offense is involved. After our objections in committee, the bill’s provision allowing indefinite pretrial detention was amended to limit such detention to no longer than seven days. The bill passed the Senate 25–8 and goes to the Governor.

Thank you to all the NRA members who contacted their lawmakers. Your action makes a difference, as several bills were amended and a handful of others stalled. While the passage of these bills is disappointing, silence and inaction is not an option.

NRA-ILA will continue to monitor these bills and fight for the rights of law-abiding New Jersey gun owners.