Controversial NJ Gun Law Slapped Down In Court

NEW JERSEY — Those challenging New Jersey's "sensitive location" bans for carrying firearms won a court victory Tuesday, as a federal judge approved part of their motion to keep the state from enforcing them.

A coalition of gun owners and Second Amendment-advocacy groups challenged the state law, passed last December, which prohibits the public from carrying firearms in certain "sensitive locations," even if they have a concealed-carry permit. These locations include parks, libraries, beaches, zoos, and places where alcohol are served.

Legislators passed the restrictions after the Supreme Court ruling in the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen case in June 2022 lifted state limitations on the public carrying of weapons.

Chief District Judge Renée Marie Bumb of the Camden Vicinage granted part of the plaintiffs' motion for an injunction in her civil ruling May 16, saying the state failed to present "sufficient historical evidence...to support each aspect of the new legislation."

This means state officials cannot enforce gun restrictions in certain places otherwise designated as "sensitive areas," unless state attorneys successfully appeal the case.

"This Court is painfully aware of the gun violence that has plagued our Nation," wrote Bumb, who was appointed by President George W. Bush. "But what the State and the Legislature-Intervenors ignore, and what their empirical evidence fails to address, is that this legislation is aimed primarily—not at those who unlawfully possess firearms—but at law-abiding, responsible citizens who satisfy detailed background and training requirements and whom the State seeks to prevent from carrying a firearm in public for self-defense."

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said his office "will be appealing immediately."

"This decision is bad constitutional law and bad for New Jersey," Platkin said in a statement Tuesday.

"...the court now insists that we are powerless to protect New Jersey residents, and proclaims that the Second Amendment requires allowing guns at parks and beaches, in libraries, at public gatherings, in zoos, and even in bars, among other sensitive places."

Judge Bumb's full 235-page opinion is embedded below. Click here if you cannot see it, or if you want to open it in a new window.

Bumb's order Tuesday does not permit the state from enforcing restrictions on guns being carried in several sensitive places, including on playgrounds, at health care facilities which provide "addiction or mental health treatment or support services,"and at youth sports events, court records show.

Judge Bumb granted a temporary restraining order on this same law Jan. 9 during a separate legal challenge against the concealed-carry regulations.

She further wrote that the state "has failed to offer any evidence that law-abiding responsible citizens who carry firearms in public for self-defense are responsible for an increase in gun violence."

AG Platkin's office said evidence has shown "over and over" that keeping firearms out of sensitive places will keep residents safe and said the decision is "devastating for public safety."

The Second Amendment Foundation is one of the plaintiffs in the case, along with the Coalition of New Jersey Firearm Owners, New Jersey Second Amendment Society, Firearms Policy Coalition and three private citizens (Nicholas Gaudio, Jeffrey Muller, and Ronald Koons). SAF executive director Adam Kraut said Bumb's order "reaffirms that the rule of law is alive and well."

"After the Supreme Court decided Bruen last summer, the State of New Jersey enacted a series of restrictions that were wholly incompatible with the Constitution and disregarded the Supreme Court’s directive," Kraut said in a statement.

"It is unfortunate that a lawsuit was required in order to force the State to respect its residents’ constitutional right to bear arms," he continued. "We look forward to continuing to litigate these issues in New Jersey, and across the nation, to ensure constitutional rights are not meaningless words on paper."

The plaintiffs filed their lawsuit against AG Platkin, New Jersey State Police Superintendent Col. Patrick Callahan, NJ Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-NJ-22) and NJ Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-NJ-19).

Judge Bumb's official court order is embedded below. Click here if you cannot see it, or if you want to open it in a new window.

Bumb said the state's new system for obtaining a carry permit did not conflict with the Second Amendment's "reasonable restriction" provisions, and upheld the state provision permitting individual property owners and some businesses to prohibit guns on their property.

Platkin called this aspect of the ruling "one silver lining."

"No one may carry a firearm inside someone else’s home, or into a business closed to the public, without the owner’s express permission," he said. "And for everyone else – for retail establishments and other businesses open to the public – the owners can still make clear that carrying firearms is not welcome on their premises, just as homeowners can make clear guns are unwelcome on their lawns and driveways. Nothing in today’s opinion changes that important reality."