Gun Control in New Jersey

They are now up to 43 anti-gun bills. That list is here:

  1. A3645 – Requires ammunition sales and transfers be conducted as face‑to‑face transactions.
  2. A3646 – Establishes a regulatory system to govern the sale and transfer of ammunition.
  3. A3653 – Criminalizes purchasing or owning weapon if person has previous conviction of unlawful possession of weapon.
  4. A3659 – Revises definition of destructive device to include certain weapons of 50 caliber or greater.
  5. A3664 – Reduces lawful maximum capacity of certain ammunition magazines in New Jersey.
  6. A3666 – Prohibits mail order, Internet, telephone, and any other anonymous method of ammunition sale or transfer in New Jersey.
  7. A3667 – Requires mental health screening by licensed professional to purchase a firearm.
  8. A3668 – Prohibits investment by State of pension and annuity funds in companies manufacturing, importing, and selling assault firearms for civilian use.
  9. A3676 – Requires psychological evaluation and in‑home inspection as prerequisite to purchase firearm.
  10. A3687 – Disqualifies person named on federal Terrorist Watchlist from obtaining firearms identification card or permit to purchase handgun.
  11. A3688 – Requires mental health evaluation and list of household members with mental illness to purchase firearm.
  12. A3689 – Requires security guards who carry weapons to wear certain uniform, including identification card.
  13. A3690 – Declares violence a public health crisis, recommends expansion of mental health programs, recommends federal adoption of gun control measures, and establishes “Study Commission on Violence.”
  14. A3704 – Requires handgun ammunition to be encoded with serial number.
  15. A3707 – Establishes a ballistics identifier program for certain firearms.
  16. A3717 – Requires submission of certain mental health records to National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
  17. A3727 – Imposes additional five percent tax on sale of firearms and ammunition to fund safety infrastructure improvements in public buildings.
  18. A3748 – Requires background check for private gun sales.
  19. A3750 – Establishes regulatory and reporting program for all ammunition sales.
  20. A3752 – Requires firearms to be unloaded and securely locked or stored within home.
  21. A3753 – Increases references required for application for handgun permit and firearms identification card from two to five.
  22. A3754 – Requires firearms seizure when mental health professional determines patient poses threat of harm to self or others.
  23. A3772 – Requires that firearms purchaser identification cards display picture; mandates that firearms purchaser identification cards be renewed every five years.
  24. A3773 – Increases firearms purchaser identification card and permit to purchase a handgun fee.
  25. ACR176 – Memorializes Congress and the President of the United States to enact legislation enforcing stricter firearms control measures.
  26. AR143 – Expresses support for Attorney General’s gun buyback program.
  27. AR133 – Expresses support for creation of task force on gun control led by Vice President Biden.
  28. S2430 – Declares violence a public health crisis, recommends expansion of mental health programs, recommends federal adoption of gun control measures, and establishes “Study Commission on Violence.”
  29. S2456 – Criminalizes purchase or possession of firearms ammunition by persons convicted of certain crimes.
  30. S2464 – Regulates sale and transfer of rifle and shotgun ammunition.
  31. S2465 – Prohibits mail order, Internet, telephone, and any other anonymous method of ammunition sale or transfer in New Jersey.
  32. S2467 – Prohibits State administered pension fund investment in manufacturers of firearms prohibited in New Jersey.
  33. S2471 – Prohibits investment by State of pension and annuity funds in companies manufacturing, importing, and selling assault firearms for civilian use.
  34. S2474 – Establishes a regulatory system to govern the sale and transfer of ammunition.
  35. S2475 – Reduces maximum capacity of ammunition magazines to 10 rounds.
  36. S2476 – Requires ammunition sales and transfers be conducted as face‑to‑face transactions.
  37. S2485 – Disqualifies person named on federal Terrorist Watchlist from obtaining firearms identification card or permit to purchase handgun.
  38. S2497 – Reduces lawful maximum capacity of certain ammunition magazines in New Jersey.
  39. S2523 – Establishes a regulatory program for rifle and shotgun ammunition sales.
  40. S2525 – Establishes regulatory and reporting program for all ammunition sales.
  41. SCR136 – Urges President and Congress of United States to enact assault weapons ban including prohibition against large capacity ammunition feeding devices.
  42. SR96 – Urges President and Congress to reauthorize assault weapons ban.
  43. SR92 – Urges Congress to strengthen gun control

Scott Bach has an editorial in The Record talking about how New Jersey doesn’t need any more gun control. Some of the bills that looks like they could move are draconian, such as forcing gun owners to get psychological evaluations, and limiting magazine capacity to 5 rounds.

27 thoughts on “Gun Control in New Jersey”

  1. Markie Marxist sez: “43? That’s all?! This is New Jersey we’re talking about! A BB gun is an illegal assault weapon there already! What about mandatory daily enemas for all gun owners, so that they don’t get all uptight and shoot somebody? If it saves one life it’s worth it! I mean, come on! I expect to see some common communist sense gun legislation here! Lifetime prohibition on gun ownership for a parking ticket, or for jaywalking, if they don’t have a car! Let’s be reasonable about this!”

  2. Gag! Remind me to spend no money in New Jersey – I don’t want to give their legislature one penny in sales tax! Tyrants!!!!

    1. Some of us do vote against them. But the wanna be New Yorkers in north Jersey tend to vote very liberal. I’m coming to accept that my state is a lost cause.

  3. What’s really needed are mandatory in-home inspections, computer inspections, email inspections and psychological testing of all candidates for State Legislature & Senate – followed by mandatory annual inspections and testing (ditto the above) for all the successful candidates. We need to be very careful about allowing neo-Fascists anywhere near government power.

    It’s for the children.

    (Your homework – The excersise of what other human right in New Jersey requires five personal references?)

  4. I would be totally on board for all of this garbage, IF their cops would also be subject to all of it too.

  5. Matt — I do believe they are (at least the current stuff, not sure about the proposed BS). For personal purchases an officer would have to go to his local PD (the one where he lives, not where he works) and jump through the same hoops as the rest of us: two references, background check, waiting for sign off from the chief, etc. Once when you get your “Firearms ID Card”, and again, every single time you want to purchase a handgun. And you still have to do NICS at point of sale, so you get to pay twice.

  6. Let us never forget, this legislative stew is what the advocates of gun-control endorse as “common sense” and “reasonable”.

  7. I simply don’t understand why people even bother complying at a point. It just becomes laughable.

    Seriously, if you want to own guns and you happen to live in Jersey it is easier to:
    (1) Move out of state.
    (2) Break the law and rely on outright bribery if you get caught.

    I’ve been to third world countries and seen how corruption works first hand. If people think NJ officials are not subject to such influences they should read about the history of the mob. Do you think mafia bosses got permits for their guns? Hah (well, some likely did… with bribes…)! It would likely be cheaper and easier to slip a wad of bills to Officer Friendly to make the problem “go away” than to comply with a lot of the BS Jersey proposes. Corruption sucks but when you strictly regulate things that people want then they will have them, one way or another (c.f. war on drugs).

    Of course, option 3 is to go the Gandhi/MLK route with peaceful non-compliance but really, nobody will care if a violent crazy right wing lunatic domestic terrorist is jailed. They will be demonized in the MSM and ostracized. How many recreational drug users have been freed due to mass outrage at jailing an occasional pot smoking for years? There is some usefulness to this route, like the clemency for Brian Aitken, or if the courts are still functional at defending the innocent.

    Of course, option 4 is realizing that after the first felony, the rest are free. This seems to be a pretty common realization among the criminal underclass, who tend to be pretty stupid and lazy. The results are likely to be far worse for civil society as a whole if productive, educated, creative middle class people with resources feel this is the route to go.

    Of course, that’s purely hypothetical. It is better to move and boycott NJ altogether while Alan Gura works his magic.

    1. That the point. People don’t comply – they become criminals. They drive (at the speed limit) to PA to shoot.

  8. It will be interesting / comical to see what the fattest man who wants to rule over us has to say.

    1. These bills are purposely designed by Democrats to put Christie in a bad spot. If a popular (in NJ) gun bill makes it to his desk, he has a big decision. Veto it and hurt his reelection chances this year. Or, sign it and lose any chance at the Republican nomination.

      1. Hard to imagine him having a chance after his post-Sandy, pre-election love fest with Obama.

  9. Texas should put out a full-page advertisement to convince New Jersey gun owners to move to Texas, just like the one they recently put out for those New York gun owners.

      1. Unlike New Jersey, Texas has no personal income tax. New Jersey also has some of the highest property tax rates in America. The sales tax in New Jersey is 7%, but in Texas, it is 6.25%. Most of New Jersey’s beach towns make everybody pay for beach badges – beach towns in Texas don’t.

        Think of how much money you could save in taxes, and how much 2A freedom you could gain, just by relocating to Texas from New Jersey.

        As for comparable jobs, all I can say to that is the unemployment rate for December 2012 in Texas was 6.1%, while in New Jersey, it was 9.6%, and these are just the federal government’s likely distorted numbers.

        1. I hear you – I might be able to buy a slightly cheaper house and get rid of 6% or so in state income. But I’m looking at college bills in 2 years, so any significant pay cut is out of the question.

          In a couple decades, I’m there.

        2. A couple of months ago I was unemployed. I mostly stuck to looking for telecommuting jobs, and jobs local to Utah, but I toyed with the possibility of moving to California for a bit.

          After looking at things more closely, I concluded that I would be better off just ignoring California: between higher income taxes, much higher cost of living (since I was looking at technical jobs, I was looking at Silicon Valley), a hostile home-schooling atmosphere, and an overall loss of freedom, it didn’t seem worth it. Indeed, I had the impression that I’d have a lower quality of life making $100,000 in California (after considering rent, take-home pay, and loss of freedom) than I would making $40,000 in Utah! It just didn’t seem worth the consideration.

          And it makes me wonder why, short of family and climate, anyone would want to be in California at this point in time…

          1. By long standing public policy, non-competes are unenforceable in California. Therefore the Bay Area has the country’s most liquid talent pool.

            I’m convinced that this totally unique thing, is perhaps more than anything else responsible for the success of the area (I’ve though about it a lot, as a first hand observer of the death of the Massachusetts Route 128 high tech area, which ultimately was a major reason I left the area after a dozen years). I certainly know that the enforceability of them has killed a couple of pieces of very nice technology and their companies that I was working at.

        3. I happen to be in a position where I could move from New Jersey to Texas (specifically DFW area) and keep my job. I know people who have done so. While they mention the property tax and cost of housing differences, they don’t seem to be that much better off financially. (Admittedly, I’m pretty sure my company pays me extra to live in NJ, and while I’d keep that rate if I moved, I wouldn’t get a raise for a few years.)
          If I was going to move, I’d move to Northern VA, since I have family there. But as long as my in-laws are in NJ, I’m stuck here. And, honestly, the positives outweigh the negatives so far.

  10. Side note, unlawful possession of a firearm is already a disqualifying offense (felony punishable by over a year in prison.)

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