New Jersey Laws Get in Penn Jillette’s Way

SayUncle has the story.  No, in New Jersey there is no dramatic reenactment or entertainment exception, though I understand that’s been talked about.  New Jersey laws on guns (including air guns) is relatively simple: guns are illegal in New Jersey.  You can only own them and possess them under exceptions to the law.  One of those exceptions is a shooting range, and going directly too and from.  A theater is Atlantic City is not a shooting range, so it’s outside of that exception.  The only way to legally possess a .357 revolver in a theater in Atlantic City is to get a New Jersey License to Carry Firearms, which are not really issued to anyone who’s not well connected, and even the well connected can have a rough time.

Incidentally, New Jersey law can create problems for reenactors, because of the lack of exception for entertainment. Even a flintlock pistol in New Jersey is regulated in the same manner as a Glock.  Muzzleloaders are regulated in a lesser manner than modern rifles and shotguns, but New Jersey’s antique cannon laws alone are several pages.  The laws, taken as a whole, are so complicated even most lawyers don’t understand them, let alone police.  The complexity of it is part of the reason I won’t compete there, even though there are ranges that are still very active, and run good matches.

13 thoughts on “New Jersey Laws Get in Penn Jillette’s Way”

  1. I suggest that they film the revolver shooting from the PA side of the border, with the bullet being caught in the teeth on the Jersey side of the border, and show that at the casino.

    Or, being magicians, they could use a toy gun in their act, and magically have it shoot out a bullet to be caught in the teeth.

    Either way, as soon as this act is performed in NJ and publicized, I predict hundreds of deaths among those who don’t know how the magic trick works. Catch a bullet in my teeth? I’d almost rather be the one doing the shooting, except that NJ jails are not a fun place to live.

  2. A lot of the Sopranos was filmed in New York, which I think does have an exception for that. Or, the film company got the proper permits for doing it in New Jersey. There _is_ a permit for being able to have NFA stuff in NJ, it’s just if you’re an ordinary Joe, you aren’t getting one.

  3. Regarding filming in NJ with firearms: I’m sure they jumped through quite a bit of hoops, unless the local townships they filmed in turned the other cheek.

    With some townships, make a *donation* to something (police, fire dept, first aid squad, etc…), and trouble magically disappears…….

  4. One more thing: A few years ago when I applied for my NJ FID, the Police Dept straight up told me not to mark *self defense* in the section on why I want a gun. I was *advised* to mark *sporting purposes*…….

    That’s about as #$%^edup as a State can get….

  5. I suspect in my home state of New Jersey a peashooter is regulated as a firearm, because it expels a projectile by the force of expanding gas or air… Yeah, NJ gun laws cannot be described via polite conversation – poorly/confusedly written; lacking definitions of critical terms; contradictory…

  6. Or, the film company got the proper permits for doing it in New Jersey.

    I suspect this is the case. The Sopranos were nearly entirely filmed in New Jersey – even the trips to New England were filmed in New Jersey (they filmed a lot of New England in the area around Boonton, where I grew up).

    Since the Sopranos was basically the best thing to happen to Jersey (the only thing???) – not to mention the biggest – since Frank Sinatra, I suspect they had no problem getting the proper permits.

    Heck, I know plenty of Soprano kind of guys who all carry guns in Jersey – and they all have permits (or, in the most outrageous case – one of them has been deputized as a cop). But then, thats the way Jersey has always been.

  7. I’m still waiting for the PTB to bust a kid for his airsoft gun (or an adult, for that matter).

    Barring that, 2A incorporation and some high-power lawyering :)

    (shame I’ll have to pay for it in taxes).

  8. I wouldn’t piss on New Jersey if it was on fire, much less spend ANY of my money there.

  9. I belong to a range here in NJ – I only shoot guns I bought here in NJ. The others stay locked up unless I’m visiting PA.

    I aspire to escape this dump eventually.

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