A federal judge on Monday hit the brakes on New Jersey’s new concealed carry gun law, finding that the tough restrictions on where and when a person can carry a firearm in public present “considerable constitutional problems.”
The ruling comes less than three weeks after Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation that he and his Democratic colleagues in the Legislature to strictly limit concealed carry in an array of “sensitive places” and prohibiting permit-holders from keeping a loaded gun in their car.
In a 60-page decision, Judge Renee Marie Bumb — a George W. Bush appointee — issued a temporary restraining order against New Jersey officials preventing them from enforcing certain provisions of the law, including the “sensitive places” restriction and the restrictions placed to carry in cars and private property. The law specifies dozens of places where guns are not allowed, including schools, courthouses, and parks and beaches.
Bumb also sharply criticized state leaders, whom she wrote “should have been better prepared to defend the legislation’s constitutionality.”
The ruling means the main portions of the new law could be on hold for months while the case wends its way through federal courts. Gun-rights advocates hailed the decision, while New Jersey officials downplayed the ruling as an expected hurdle in the state’s efforts to curb gun violence.
Alexander Roubian, president of one of the plaintiff groups, the New Jersey Second Amendment Society, told NJ Advance Media Monday the organization was “ecstatic that the judge firmly believes the Second Amendment doesn’t include sensitive places and is universal across the country.”
A spokeswoman for state Attorney General Matthew Platkin, whose office is representing the state in court, said the office was “disappointed by the Court’s ruling, which is inconsistent with the Second Amendment and will make New Jerseyans considerably less safe.”
“But this temporary order is just that: temporary,” said the spokeswoman, Julia Wiacek. “And we look forward to continuing to press our case, including ultimately on appeal.”
Murphy’s office said it’s pleased most of the law “remains in effect.” But spokeswoman Tyler Jones said “we are disappointed that a right-wing federal judge, without any serious justification, has chosen to invalidate common sense restrictions around the right to carry a firearm in certain public spaces.”
“We are working closely with the Attorney General’s Office to correct this errant decision and to ensure that the law will be reinstated in its entirety,” Jones added.
The lawsuit was the latest salvo in a legal fight spurred by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling — known as the Bruen decision — that effectively invalidated New York’s concealed carry law.
New Jersey for decades had some of the nation’s most stringent carry restrictions, which made it nearly impossible for people other than retired law enforcement officials to legally carry handguns. Previously, you had to prove a “justifiable need” to get a carry permit in New Jersey.
Murphy and lawmakers, including state Senate President Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, fast-tracked legislation seeking to comply with the high court’s ruling in December while preserving some of the state’s tight restrictions.
The legislation (A4769) bans people from carrying firearms in a wide swath of “sensitive places” in New Jersey. That includes 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.
It also bars carrying guns on private property unless the property owner expressly allows it. That includes homes, shopping centers, supermarkets and churches. Additionally, it requires permit-holders to store their firearms, unloaded, while driving.
A legal challenge to the measure was a foregone conclusion, with gun-rights groups pledging to sue as soon as the ink from Murphy’s signature was dry.
New York’s clean-up bill in reaction to the Supreme Court decision remains stuck in legal limbo after a federal judge in November ruled that provisions similar to what ended up in New Jersey’s law were unconstitutional.
As the bill moved through the Legislature last month, the Senate president told his colleagues he was confident the measure “struck the right balance and it will meet constitutional muster.”
The judge’s decision suggest Democratic leaders underestimated the legal hurdles the measure faced.
“Defendants must do more than promise they will justify the constitutional basis for its legislation later,” Bumb wrote in the ruling, which specifically targeted the provisions concerning sensitive places, private property and the transport of guns in vehicles.
In a statement Monday, Scutari called the injunction “the first step in what will be a lengthy legal process.”
“The Supreme Court has stated that the right to bear arms is not absolute, and that state legislatures can designate sensitive places where guns may be restricted,” the Senate president said.
“We remain confident that the law is constitutional. We will continue to support common sense gun safety measures to make our communities safer from gun violence.”
The suit was brought by three individuals(and the gun rights groups they belong to) who already had concealed carry permits and argued the new law created “a veritable minefield” of confusing regulations to navigate and would likely lead to otherwise law-abiding gun owners facing prosecution for running afoul of the restrictions.
The plaintiffs include Ronald Koons, a retired U.S. Air Force member and pastor who said he regularly carried in churches and is no longer able to do so; Nicholas Gaudio, a systems engineer for Lockheed Martin with a “top secret” security clearance who said he is now unable to carry in his car; and Jeffrey Muller, who received rare permission to carry a handgun after he was the victim of a high-profile, mistaken-identity kidnapping case in 2010.
In addition to the Second Amendment Society, the Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition and Coalition of New Jersey Firearm Owners are plaintiffs. Murphy, Platkin and the head of the State Police and several county prosecutors are named as defendants.
“Clearly, New Jersey lawmakers have gone too far in crafting a law to get around the high court’s decision,” Alan Gottlieb, the founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, said in a statement following the decision.
Bumb in her decision found that the state failed to provide “historical analogies” to justify the new restrictions as required by the Supreme Court in their Bruen ruling.
Republicans in the Legislature said the ruling could have been avoided.
“To my Democrat colleagues, I hate to say ‘I told you so,’ but I told you so,” said Sen. Anthony Bucco, R-Morris, a vocal opponent of the law.
“Maybe now they’ll be willing to work with us on sensible solutions to ensure that the legal concealed carry of firearms can be practiced in a safe manner in accordance with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bruen,” Bucco added.
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NJ Advance Media staff writer Brent Johnson contributed to this report.
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