STATEWIDE PROGRESS ON
PERMITTING ISSUES AFFECTING
FIRST-TIME APPLICANTS FOR
FID CARDS AND PISTOL PURCHASE PERMITS

A new law signed by Governor Murphy in July required first-time applicants for FID cards and pistol purchase permits to first obtain training, and that credentials issued contain a photograph and digital fingerprint.  Because the new law mandated these things without any time for their development or implementation in advance, permitting authorities simply stopped issuing purchaser credentials to first-time applicants pending development or implementation at an unspecified time in the future, which is an impermissible infringement of Second Amendment rights.

After dialogue with ANJRPC over several months, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office has just informed ANJRPC of solutions to these problems, as follows:

1. The Superintendent of State Police has approved a new online course of instruction to satisfy the training requirement of the new law. The new online course is expected to be imminently announced officially.  It is not yet known whether this will ultimately be the only recognized training course, but at least there will be one compliance mechanism available while we advocate for others.

2. All County Prosecutor offices statewide have been instructed by the Attorney General that law enforcement agencies are to process all first-time purchaser applications as they have done previously (without the digital fingerprint and photograph), until such time as the new requirements are actually implemented.

These announcements, while significant, represent only a small fraction of the issues ANJRPC is working with state officials to address.  We hope to have additional announcements in the future.

In the meanwhile, it is more critical than ever that gun owners notify ANJRPC of any permitting authorities that are not following these Attorney General determinations, or seem to be improvising their own procedures, or are improperly interfering with the issuance of carry permits.  Please write to ANJRPC counsel Dan Schmutter at strikeforce@ANJRPC.org with as many details as possible so that ANJRPC can intervene and move toward 100% compliance from government officials.

Your role in providing continual feedback to us is critical to success.  Please keep us informed of unique or unusual issues of which you become aware.