June 28, 2013: In New Jersey, four more pieces of firearms legislation were sent to Governor Chris Christie this week. These bills follow three others which were sent to the Governor at the end of last week, making a total of thirteen firearms bills now pending the Governor’s approval (see below).

One of the bills, which was just passed by the Senate last night, however, has generated some serious controversy, including threats of legal action by gun rights advocates against the NJ Legislature earlier this week.  Assembly leaders allegedly

committed a number of rules violations in order to get the Assembly to pass S2723 (a bill which would, among other things, impose new training requirements for purchasing firearms, embed firearm permit information onto driver’s licenses and create a new system for instant background checks).  According to the allegations, Assembly leaders violated the Assembly rules when they stopped the voting process on S2723 in the middle of a vote by the Assembly Law & Public Safety Committee.  The vote was allegedly stopped when it became clear to the Assembly leaders that the bill did not have enough votes to pass the Committee, which would have prevented the bill from passing.  Assembly leaders apparently then transferred the bill to the Assembly Budget Committee where it was approved by a vote of 8-4 before being voted on and passed by the full Assembly.  Because of the alleged violations, gun rights advocates claim that the bill was never properly passed by the Assembly and should not have been sent to the Senate for a concurrence vote.  Adding fuel to the fire, last night the Senate passed S2723 by a vote of 22-16. 

The following bills (including S2723) are currently pending the Governor’s approval (listed in order of date passed and deadline for action):

Passed 5/20; To be acted on by 7/5

  • A3583: creates a “School Security Task Force” to study school safety, additional security measures and violence prevention
  • A3796: requiring anyone in possession of illegal firearms to dispose of them within 180 days.
  • A3797: requires law enforcement agencies to submit data on lost/stolen firearms to Federal government 

Passed 5/30; to be acted on by 7/15

  • A3668: prohibits the State Pension Fund from investing in any company the manufactures or sells assault firearms to civilians
  • A3687: adds anyone on the federal terrorist watch list to the list of persons prohibited from purchasing a firearm
  • A3717: requires State to submit additional data on prohibited persons to NICS

Passed 6/20; To be acted on by 8/5

  • S1279: increases penalties for unlawful transfer of a firearm to underage persons
  • S2720: makes clear that data on the total number of purchaser identification cards and handgun purchase permits issued by a municipality is public
  • S2804: increases various minimum sentences and upgrades unlawful possession of a firearm to a first degree crime

Passed 6/24; To be acted on by 8/9

  • A3659: bans .50 caliber rifles
  • A3788: declares that firearms owner information is not public information
  • S2715: requires Department of Education to distribute pamphlets on controlling child exposure to media violence

 Passed 6/27; To be acted on by 8/12

  • S2723: imposes new training requirements for purchasing firearms, mandates that firearm permit information be embedded onto driver’s licenses and creates a new system for instant background checks