Distortions in New Jersey Ruling

SayUncle covers a media story that distorts a NJ Superior Court ruling that said NJ’s licensing and permitting system did not violate Heller.  One thing about New Jersey law though, the permits to purchase for handguns, and the FID card, are all shall-issue in New Jersey by law. Police can’t arbitrarily deny. The problem in New Jersey is the law that says they have to be issued within a certain period of time, and the police routinely ignore it. The courts in New Jersey generally aren’t all that interested in making the police follow the law. If you qualify for an FID or Purchase Permit in NJ, you will eventually get it, if you’re willing to follow through with things. But it can take a while. Years if you have a really bad local PD.

10 thoughts on “Distortions in New Jersey Ruling”

  1. And there are MUCH better plaintiffs for a challenge than this guy in NJ. I haven’t heard of ANYONE who’s gotten their first permit in the statutory 30 days.

    That having been said, NJ challenges should wait until after McDonald and the CA may-issue case.

  2. We’ll want to go after the may issue systems like exist in New York City and Massachusetts, where the police can actually just deny you a permit because they don’t like you. That’s an easier case to go after than New Jersey’s mostly shall-issue system, even with all the abuses.

  3. Absolutely. I may bitch about NJ’s permit system, but it is more or less shall-issue. The question is generally when, not if.

  4. Ian Argent:

    The only time I’ve heard people getting permits/fid cards in under 30 days, when they go to safety training, and that said PD knows said safety instructor.

    I’ve been VERY fortunate in that manner with regards to my PD.

  5. Oddly – I didn’t get asked about training when my permit was applied for.

    Given that I’m waiting for a re-issue after an in-town move that I filed for in august; I almost wish I had moved to your neck of the woods. (for that reason only – my commute would be sucktastic if I lived that far east)

  6. Thirty days = 3 months where I live in NJ. I usually apply for two permits every 6 months just to keep them busy. I don’t even kow if it’s the local cops that hold thing up. The’re pretty nice about the whole thing. Perhaps the State police has something to do with it.

  7. My local cops always blame the state police for the delays. Dunno how true that is, but my rural NW Jersey cops don’t exactly seem like raging hoplophobes, either.

  8. Judging from my experiences with my local town, it’s likely the state. The NJ Guns Forum I drop in on has had a couple of people opine that recent increases in delay are due to a surge in applicants and a drop in desk workers as budget issues have allowed less time for the NJSP to have people do paperwork jobs. And we all can guess where the NJSP ranks doing permit paperwork is on their priority list…

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