New Jersey: Gun Owners Under Attack This Week in Trenton

Gun grabbers in the New Jersey Senate are back at it this week, scheduled to hear 18 anti-gun bills in the Senate Law & Public Safety Committee on Thursday, June 19 at 10:00 a.m. The Assembly passed a similar package of bills earlier this spring.

Your immediate help is needed! Please contact members of the Senate Law & Public Safety Committee using the Take Action button to respectfully urge them to reject any and all gun control measures.

Some of the worst bills on the agenda include:

S.1558 makes it a first-degree crime (up to 20 years in jail) to transport, ship, or even dispose of a firearm without a serial number. There is no exception for previously owned historical firearms that were lawfully manufactured and lawfully acquired without a serial number.

S.3893 prescribes penalties for the sale and possession of “machine gun conversion devices.” Such devices are already banned at both the state and federal levels.

S.3894 creates 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 possessing a digital file for a component makes you a criminal.

S.3895 expands 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. Now, every time a firearm is used—even in legitimate self-defense situations, prosecutors will have more tools to harass law-abiding gun owners. 

S.3706 mandates 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.

S.3896 attempts to criminalize lawful self-defense with a firearm. Though cloaked in language focusing on criminal misconduct by bad actors, the operative portion of the bill is not limited to bad actors and allows prosecution for self-defense where a firearm is discharged.

S.3900 allows imprisonment before trial for an unlimited amount of time when someone is merely accused of a firearms offense. If someone is accused of a gun crime, the government gets to lock them up and throw away the key while they await trial.

These gun bills are completely unnecessary. New Jersey has more than enough gun laws already. It’s time to tell politicians to leave law-abiding citizens alone and focus on enforcing the laws already on the books. 

Please stay tuned to your email inbox and www.nraila.org for additional updates throughout the legislative session.