New Jersey Safe Place Designations 'Can Discourage, But Not 100% Prevent' Behaviors

By Bob Pepalis | The Center Square contributor, The Center Square New Jersey

July 20, 2022

(The Center Square) – A Supreme Court ruling that overturned restrictive firearms carry laws has New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy looking for more safe places designations.

Michael D. Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, told The Center Square the changing demographic of gun owners is often overlooked. And, how the Supreme Court’s Bruen ruling impacts gun owners depends on where they live.

“There's a really good social psychology finding that's been repeated for decades, called the weapons effect, where the mere presence and certainly the act of holding a weapon not only makes someone more likely to be aggressive but more likely to perceive aggression in others around them than folks who aren't holding or in the presence of a weapon,” he said.

"The Bruen decision did not ban these safe spaces. Even the most ardent gun-rights supporters believe this to be true, which is why the NRA doesn't allow firearms in their national convention every year," he said.

“As long as we are a nation inundated with firearms, we have chosen as a nation to accept a certain level of risk that comes from being a society that embraces firearm ownership,” Anestis said.

"The standard can't just be if a bad thing ever happened there," he said.

“Just like murder laws and rape laws don't eliminate murderers and rapists, but they do discourage certain behaviors, the Safe Place designations can discourage, but not 100% prevent, the behaviors that you're trying to prevent,” he said.

"Public mass shootings are tragedies, but only represent 1% of American gun violence," he said.
The court ruling states that “New York makes it a crime to possess a firearm without a license, whether inside or outside the home. An individual who wants to carry a firearm outside his home may obtain an unrestricted license to ‘have and carry’ a concealed ‘pistol or revolver’ if he can prove that ‘proper cause exists’ for doing so.”

The ruling overturned the need to prove that proper cause.

"In New Jersey, the restrictions remain that require a permit to buy a firearm. But once a person has a permit, they can carry a firearm to more places without establishing a need to do so," he said.

The governor called for a study to determine more safe places.

Anestis said that means certain places where people would not be able to bring their firearms. He suggested pairing safe spaces with legislation such as extreme risk protection orders or permit to purchase laws that help prevent the wrong individual from having a firearm.

"Tools like violence interruption programs, violence interrupters and hospital-based violence interruption programs are needed," Anestis said, "to reduce day-to-day gun violence."

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