Tell All Assembly Members to Oppose

On Thursday, March 20, New Jersey Democrats are scheduled to resume their attack on the Second Amendment in yet another Assembly committee hearing. The first hearing took placelast month. Now a different Assembly committee is scheduled to consider this same legislation on Thursday (Assembly Appropriations).  

The move is a calculated distraction tactic by state Democrats in an election year, to change the subject from the extraordinary levels of government waste, fraud, and abuse being uncovered nationally, as well as the failure to address New Jersey's chronic fiscal problems and over taxation of the citizenry. 

Please click this linkto contact all New Jersey Assembly members. Tell them to oppose all new gun bills being proposed Thursday in the Assembly Appropriations Committee or thereafter in the full Assembly. Tell them to stop attacking Second Amendment rights instead of punishing criminals, and tell them you will vote against any lawmaker this November who attacks the Second Amendment.

The bills scheduled to be considered Thursday are as follows:

A.4974prescribes penalties for the sale and possession of “machine gun conversion devices.” Such devices are already banned at both the state and federal level.  

A.4975creates a crime for possession of digital instructions to illegally manufacture firearms or firearm components. This legislation creates a crime even if someone never produces a gun or component. Simply having a digital file for a component on your computer makes you a criminal. 

A.4976establishes the crime of reckless discharge. Discharging a firearm in New Jersey is already illegal unless done “for a lawful purpose,” which is an affirmative defense. This is nothing more than a swipe at concealed carry. Now, every time a firearm is used, even in legitimate self-defense situations, prosecutors will have more tools to harass law-abiding gun owners. There is also no exception for accidental discharges. 

A.1389requires confiscation of ammunition and firearms components in response to domestic violence restraining orders or convictions. This bill applies to accusations, even false accusations, not just convictions. Current law already requires confiscation of firearms, but this bill is absurd as it would now require confiscation of components like spare grips, scope caps, cleaning kits, choke tubes, holsters and slings. 

A.5345mandates the use of Merchant Category Codes. This is nothing more than government sanctioned snooping that can be used to create a firearms registry or discriminate against gun owners and lawful businesses.

November 19, 2024. Following the lower court's mixed decision in the long-pending mag ban / AW ban lawsuits, ANJRPC has now filed the opening salvo appealing that decision in the middle level federal appeals court. ANJRPC is asking the appeals court to reverse an incorrect ruling of the lower court (that magazines in excess of 10 rounds can be banned), and to expand a correct ruling of the lower court (that AR-15 rifles cannot be banned) so that it applies to all semi-automatic firearms banned in New Jersey.

Click here to see a copy of ANJRPC's initial appeals brief. 

This is just the first step in the appeals process. There will eventually be four rounds of briefs filed with the appeals court, with the last set of briefs to be filed in February of 2025. The court will then schedule oral argument of the appeal following that.

The filing of this appeals brief marks the long-awaited next step in these critically important cases. The mag ban case was launched in 2018 and was in a procedural tangle for years until the U.S. Supreme Court gave it new life after the Bruen (right to carry) decision, forcing the lower courts to reconsider the issue. The mag ban case was then consolidated together with ANJRPC's challenge to New Jersey's "assault" firearms ban because the cases involved similar legal issues, and the combined cases took the lower court several years to resolve in its mixed decision this past Summer. 

"These are two firearms hardware issues whose time has finally come," said ANJRPC Executive Director Scott Bach. "Gun owners should be confident that they will ultimately prevail on these issues, despite extensive delays and mixed messages from the lower courts. The law is on our side and the wind is finally at our backs on these issues."

Gun owners can support this critical lawsuit by clicking here.  

Please watch for additional updates on this case as the appeal unfolds.

October 25, 2024. ANJRPC joined a federal lawsuit today to overturn New Jersey's unconstitutional Extreme Risk Protective Order (“Red Flag”) law, which is being used to suppress the right to carry handguns guaranteed by the Second Amendment. 

The New Jersey State Police used the Red Flag law to seize the firearms of 67-year old attorney David L. Burg because he simply tried to exercise his right of lawful self-defense while enroute to an Independence Day celebration in July.

The State Police never bothered to speak directly with Mr. Burg, a carry permit holder, before using the red flag law to wrongly arrest him and seize his firearms. Instead, they falsely concluded he was a bad actor who needed to be stripped of his gun rights without due process. This "arrest first and ask questions later" approach puts every law-abiding carry permit holder in New Jersey at risk of false arrest and wrongful firearm seizure.

This new lawsuit was brought to put an end to unconstitutional laws like Red Flag, which are being used to intimidate carry permit holders and suppress the right of self-defense, which is now recognized and protected by the U.S. Supreme Court. ANJRPC will not allow New Jersey to get away with its continued abuse of citizens' Second Amendment rights, and will hold the State fully accountable.

See a copy of the complaint in the new lawsuit by clicking here.

Donate to the new lawsuit by clicking here.

Appeals to Follow

July 30, 2024. In a surprise decision, the judge in ANJRPC's mag ban/ AW ban lawsuits has issued a mixed decision striking a portion of New Jersey's “assault firearm” ban while upholding New Jersey’s ban on magazines that hold over 10 rounds of ammunition. The 69-page decision was released late today by Judge Peter Sheridan, who had been reported to have retired last month. Portions of the decision will be appealed to the middle level federal court by ANJRPC and are also expected to be appealed by the State of New Jersey.

While the decision is groundbreaking in that it invalidates parts of New Jersey’s assault firearms law, it mistakenly limits that ruling to the "Colt AR-15" only, even though the lawsuit clearly challenges the law as to ALL assault firearms. Also, the ruling curiously upholds New Jersey's magazine ban while simultaneously invalidating parts of the assault firearm law. The NRA has provided support on both cases.

CLICK HEREto see a copy of the decision.

Despite this unusual ruling, gun owners should be encouraged that the issues are no longer languishing in the lower federal court, and will now make their way to the middle level appeals court, and eventually, perhaps, to the U.S. Supreme Court.