Politicians’ efforts to squash the clearly stated Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans seem to never end.
According to NJ.com, lawful gun owners who’d jumped through all of the state’s hoops were barred from concealed carry in “schools, courthouses, child care centers, nursing homes, polling places, government buildings, hospitals, bars and restaurants where alcohol is served, airports, parks, beaches, demonstrations, movie theaters, casinos, and other entertainment centers.”
All of these were deemed “sensitive” by the measure, which came in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen.
This June 2022 ruling overturned New York’s sweeping ban on concealed carry in public places without showing “cause” for the need for self defense.
As if defending oneself is not cause enough.
New Jersey’s answer to the high court ruling was challenged by a wide array of gun rights organizations, including the Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, and several others.
In her ruling, Judge Bumb wrote that New Jersey “may regulate conduct squarely protected by the Second Amendment only if supported by a historical tradition of firearm regulation. As she then noted, no such tradition exists for the state’s legal overreach.
Bumb added that the state mandate “constitutes irreparable injury” and that neither New Jersey nor the public “has an interest in enforcing unconstitutional laws.”
The statute even applied to concealed carry on private property unless the owner allows it. It raised the New Jersey permit application fee from $2 to $25 and the carry permit fee from $50 to $200.
Also, those seeking a carry permit were required to obtain liability insurance and take training courses. Further, permit holders were not allowed to keep a loaded firearm in their personal vehicle.
In signing the law into action, Gov. Murphy claimed that it is part of his office’s drive to “make sure guns don’t proliferate in our communities.” He expressed his belief that allowing concealed weapons “in every corner of our communities does not make us safer.”
Yes and no. The state already and logically bans certain individuals, such as convicted felons and the mentally ill, from firearm ownership. However, it is in the interest of safety to allow law-abiding citizens to possess their firearms outside the home.
Just as the Supreme Court ruled in Bruen. And, of course, the Second Amendment to the Bill of Rights.
Gun rights advocates rightly expressed their outrage over the law. As written, legal gun owners who’d paid their increased fees and undertaken the training still would be unable to carry concealed weapons in most locations.
New Jersey already had some of the strictest gun control statutes in the nation, and all but retired law enforcement officers found it nearly impossible to legally carry a firearm. Murphy spearheaded this charge to revoke precious freedoms from law-abiding citizens, having previously signed several gun control measures into law.
As Bruen plainly declared, the right to bear arms does not stop at a citizen’s front door. Americans have the freedom to protect themselves when they are out in public, and the government must show a clear and overwhelming need to remove this right at certain locations.
Clearly New Jersey went too far, and this legal action is hopefully just one of many successful efforts to thwart the government’s grab at our basic freedoms.
