Crisis At Home? Map Shows Where You Can Store A Gun In New Jersey

NEW JERSEY — Need to find a place to temporarily – and legally – store a firearm in New Jersey when there’s a crisis at home? Now there’s a map for that, according to the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center.

Recently, researchers at the Rutgers-based center teamed up with the New Jersey Department of Human Services Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services to create an interactive map, which shows locations where gun-owning residents can find safe storage for their firearms.

See the map here or at the bottom of this article.

Hopefully, the map can give New Jersey residents some options when they find themselves in a pinch, researchers said:

“When owners encounter a situation in which having a firearm in the house could be unsafe — a member of the household is feeling suicidal, there is domestic tension, grandchildren are visiting or the home is being listed for sale and strangers will be in the house alone — temporarily storing the firearm outside the home allows the owner to retain control while managing the risk.”

Here’s how the map works, the center said:

“Firearm owners can find registered retailers that offer safe storage near their home by looking at listings and clicking on the icon for the contact information. The owners of the sites listed have agreed to consider storing firearms on a case-by-case basis, which provides a path for firearm owners to find legal options in a moment of need. Firearm owners should ask the location where and how the firearm will be stored, the cost of storage and what process is in place for them to retrieve their firearms when they are ready.”

The map offers a different pathway to protection than an extreme risk protection order, researchers said. According to the center:

“With an extreme risk protection order, people can petition a court to remove someone’s access to their firearms and their ability to purchase other firearms if they are deemed to be at imminent risk to themselves or someone else. That removal of access remains in place until the person appeals and convinces a court that the risk is no longer quite so high. By using the map, firearm owners make the decision to temporarily store their firearms outside the home on their own terms. In many cases, we do not know someone is at risk for suicide until it is too late; in this case, an extreme risk protection order would not help. In addition, many people who are at risk for firearm suicide avoid mental health care altogether and keep their thoughts of suicide secret. We need tools, such as this map, that allow these people to privately lower their risk in a manner that feels consistent with their own values and culture.”

“Research has shown that the risk of suicide is reduced when people have the option to store firearms outside their residence, but out-of-home firearm storage is not used very often because firearm owners have not had a clear, legal path for storage,” said Michael Anestis, executive director of the center and an associate professor in the department of urban-global public health at the Rutgers School of Public Health.

However, this is starting to change – and the new map is a big step in the right direction, Anestis added.

“New Jersey now joins four other states—Colorado, Mississippi, Maryland and Washington—that have already developed a safe firearm storage map that connect people to firearm retailers and law enforcement agencies willing to consider offering temporary storage,” Anestis said.

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