“A person on the terrorist watch list can legally buy a gun in Florida and then move to New Jersey, but because of New Jersey’s laws, nothing would prevent that person from legally bringing that gun” with them. “However, this is not the case in Florida,” Anderman said. Still, legal experts said New Jersey’s existing law leaves the door open for a person who would have been barred from buying a gun in the state to make the purchase in another state, move to New Jersey, and lawfully possess it.įor example, New Jersey is the only state in the country that bans anyone on the federal terrorism watch list from getting a gun, according to the Giffords Law Center. Roubian said it’s unlikely that someone with a gun would move from another state to New Jersey to exploit the legal loophole, and that he had heard no examples from law enforcement of it ever happening. “If the people that are going to be committing crimes and have nefarious intentions are expected to comply with the law and tell the government what they potentially have, that’s an absurd notion.” “I’m not sure why we’d have to disclose and tell the government what we have and what we’re bringing to the state with us,” said Alexander Roubian, president of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society. Gun rights advocates suggested that forcing new residents to register their firearms with the state would be another unnecessary burden on law-abiding gun owners that did little to prevent crime. Lawmakers have generally preferred an application at the point of sale because many gun owners and Second Amendment proponents oppose a firearms registry. An assault-style weapon lawfully purchased in Pennsylvania, for example, would still be banned.) (They can only bring the gun if it is also legal in New Jersey. It means that someone who has already bought a gun in another state can move to New Jersey without being subject to the Garden State’s application process. The legal confusion in New Jersey law stems from the fact that residents must apply for permission to purchase a gun, but they do not have to register their firearm with the state once they own it. “It’s only fair to ask an out-of-state resident who comes into the state to go through that process and make sure that the weapons that they purchased out of state would have been lawfully purchased in New Jersey as well,” he added.Ĭastner suggested that a bill to overhaul the state’s process for buying guns (A-5452), which was passed by the Assembly in June, could be amended to include a requirement that new residents with guns must apply for a firearms purchaser ID card. “The Murphy administration would strongly support requiring any out-of-state resident who moves into New Jersey to obtain a firearms ID card in order to lawfully possess those weapons in New Jersey,” said Bill Castner, Murphy’s senior adviser on firearms. Murphy also wants to increase gun permit fees.īut advocates for stricter rules around gun ownership say state law still allows new, gun-owning residents to skirt New Jersey’s application process and bear arms without the knowledge of law enforcement. The Democrat has signed 11 gun control bills into law, including a ban on “ghost guns” and a 10-round magazine limit. Phil Murphy has vowed to tighten those laws even further. New Jersey has among the strictest gun laws in the country, and Gov. WHYY thanks our sponsors - become a WHYY sponsor
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