A trio of gun rights groups are taking aim at New Jersey for its firearm permitting regime, which they claim is “onerous, unconstitutional and ahistorical.” In a lawsuit filed late Tuesday night in New Jersey federal court, Coalition of New Jersey Firearm Owners, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation and private citizen Christian Benton — a New Jersey resident who claims he's still waiting on his permits after the 30-day issuing period — joined forces in an effort to upend the state’s gun permit process, Courthouse News reports.
“New Jersey does not allow a person to so much as purchase a firearm without receipt of a government permission slip,” the groups claim in their 35-page suit.
The gun groups target the hoops Garden Staters must jump through in order to get a permit to buy a handgun, including providing character references, getting fingerprinted, paying several fees and undergoing background checks. “Making matters worse, some New Jersey authorities do not issue these permits timely, further delaying (and thereby infringing) the applicant’s Second Amendment rights,” the plaintiffs claim. “And, once issued, this permit only allows the applicant to purchase a single handgun, and generally expires 90 days after issuance.” During this “lengthy and arduous” permitting process, the groups assert that state residents are “naturally unable to ‘keep … arms’” as permitted by the U.S. Constitution. Even if a prospective gun owner submits multiple permits, they add, New Jersey’s unique provision that restricts handgun purchases to one per month is further a violation of their Second Amendment rights. “This ‘one gun a month’ limitation on the exercise of an enumerated right lacks any historical tradition, infringes on New Jerseyans’ Second Amendment rights, and is an outlier among the states, as in the vast majority of states, there is no quantity limit on how many firearms ‘the people’ can purchase per month,” the plaintiffs claim.
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