Surprised to see so little action on the legislative front here in the Garden State. I went to the NJ Legislature website, and searched using the following terms :
- Firearms
- Guns
- Ammunition
And here’s what sparked my interest (you’re mileage may vary);
- Bill 2246 – Clears up the confusion regarding possession of hollow point bullets
- Bill A1006, and Bill S1257 – Prohibits possession of ammunition that penetrating body armor
- Bill A754 – Clarifies that BB Guns are not Firearms in NJ
- Bill 4239 – Makes it even more illegal to use defaced firearms. But a quick skim fails to find what *defaced* means.
- Bill A1809 – Makes materials capable of being used to make firearms look like toys illegal
- Bill S281 – Requires proof of firearms safety training as a condition for getting your NJ Firearms ID card (Interestingly, the NRA is mentioned as a source of training. Surprised to see that no gun control safety groups, like CeasefireNJ, MMM of NJ, Brady’s listed. What’s with that? They swear on a stack of bibles that they’re for safety.)
- Bill S454 – Turns *airsoft* guns into firearms
- Bill A1384 – Revises procedures for getting a permit to carry a gun. (Note: NJ doesn’t differentiate between Open or CCW carry)
UPDATE: This is the type of thing that should be looked into every few months. Never know when something will get listed.
ADD’L UPDATE: I’ve been unable to located any bills regarding ammunition encoding, or handgun microstamping. If anybody else does, let it be known
That “armor piercing bullet” thing scares the crap out of me:
“…any person, other than a law enforcement officer, who knowingly has in his possession handgun ammunition which…after testing, the Attorney General determines poses a threat to the safety and well being of law enforcement officers because of the materials, be they metallic or nonmetallic, used in its composition or because its ogive, core or jacket are of a design, construction or formulation which makes it capable of breaching or penetrating body armor is guilty of a crime of the fourth degree.”
At least it only refers to handgun ammo. And it may come to nothing. The prospect of a “safe ammo” list, though, is a bit ominous.
And the BB gun thing seems like a calculated attempt to get around the ANJRPC one-gun-a-month suit. Any state that’s trying to outlaw airsoft isn’t likely to smile on BB guns “just because”. And the toy-gun thing is just silly.
But I’m amazed that the solution for fixing the vagueness of the hollowpoint restrictions is simply to get rid of the restrictions. That’s a good step by any measure.
And damn, somebody covered all the bases with the CCW reform bill. The bill doesn’t just make permits shall-issue and increase their duration from 2 to 5 years, it also gets rid of the presumption of guilt, the ridiculous requirement to declare in advance which guns you’ll be carrying, the “public health, safety, or welfare” language for FIDs, the arbitrary restrictions on individual permits, the sworn character references, and the fiddly little clutter about armored car guards. It even deftly shifts from requiring the applicant to “demonstrate that he is not” disqualified to requiring the issuer to demonstrate that he _is_…
I’m very impressed. The chances of passage seem pretty low, but who knows? The BB gun bill shows that some lawmakers are aware of the legal challenges to gun control; maybe they’ll jump on board with an internal CCW reform to preemptively save face, rather than let the courts force the change.
That armor piercing bullet bill is scary. It’s another example of imbecilic writing by our legislatures. Writing about things they don’t know. No wonder there’s so many bills out there to fix the fucked up bills.
Defaced firearm is defined in 2C:39. What that definition is, I can’t say since I am on my mobile and the nj leg site is horrible on it. Don’t recall it being that bad.
I’ll have to look into it. I wouldn’t doubt it if engraving was outlawed in NJ.
There is no differnece between handgun ammo and rifle ammo in this state; at least not legally-speaking.
The BB gun thing was introduced before the ANJRPC suit; seems to be pro-bb-gun. The airgun law is just silly.
A1384 was either tabled or bottled up in committee last I heard.
Does A1809 really ban spray paint, as your summary would imply?
Ya know, A1809 doesn’t really say….it just mentions materials that could be used. Which could be anything available at Home Depot or Lowe’s Home Center.
Any person who sells, offers to sell, possesses with the intent to sell, or otherwise transfer to another any equipment, product or material that alone, or in combination with other equipment, products or materials, is designed to be used to color coat or otherwise alter the appearance of a firearm in such a way that it would lead an observer to reasonably believe or misidentify that firearm as a toy gun is guilty of a crime of the fourth degree.
It’s probably butthurt over Hello Kitty ARs, and would seem to either outlaw powdercoating, or outlaw powdercoating supplies that are both brightly colored and designed explicitly for firearms, or backwards-outlaw powdercoating firearms in bright colors, or do essentially nothing.
Yep – bans Krylon. Oi flipping vey. For that matter, it could ban paint brushes and sticker-printing equipment.
Void for vagueness (hopefully), and someone in Trenton deserves 5 with a ruler from Sister Mary across the knuckles for publicly showing their stupidity.
Fucked up bills are the specialty of our legislature. This way, it makes them look like they’re doing *something*, and by wasting time arguing about corrections, which should have happened the first time around, makes them, again, look like they’re doing *something*, as opposed to actually doing *anything*.
And since the link to S454 is PDF and includes 2C:39-1 in its entirety
2C:39-1
b. “Deface” means to remove, deface, cover, alter or destroy the name of the maker, model designation, manufacturer’s serial number or any other distinguishing identification mark or number on any firearm.
Whoah – does that mean replacing the SLIDE on a Glock is defacement?
Yep – bans Krylon.
The rub is “designed to be used to…alter the appearance of a firearm”, which, strictly read, would apply only to, say, Big Jim’s Barbie Pink Gun Coat, but not to a general paint or powdercoat that _can_ be used on guns, but is made for use on any metal surface. I dunno how many coatings are designed specifically for guns, but since the bill doesn’t outlaw actually putting general-purpose coatings on guns, it would seem to essentially do nothing.
That’s just what the law _says_, mind you, and in this state it pays to be paranoid. New Jersey law _means_ whatever the judge wants it to mean.
Also:
Whoah – does that mean replacing the SLIDE on a Glock is defacement?
Heh. And if one gun-illiterate judge finds that the magazine is part of the firearm, would that make it illegal to remove the Ruger-branded mag from my LCP? I’d really hate to have to head over the border to PA each time I have to reload, or resort to loading through the ejector port.
Maybe I’d better cancel the order for magazines for the Marlin I just got and just thumb rounds into the chamber… (I suppose this is reductio ad absurdium, but it’s kind of fun as well). Can’t remve what I never had
OTOH, I might be in posession of a defaced firearm. Ohnoes, I am a dangerous man!
Cemetery,
Thanks for keeping an eye on these things. What a fscked up pile of paper those bills are! I like how one “clarifies” that BB guns are not firearms in NJ (although they are explicitly listed as such) and another seeks to make airsoft (!) guns firearms! Insane! Why do I stay here?
“Something MUST be done! This bill is Something, therefore it MUST be done!”
Incidentally – when I showed the BB gun law to Sebastian over at Snowflakes, he pointed out to me that whether or not a BB gun was a firearm depended on the ammo you loaded; as the law only exempts “air gun or pistol which uses air, compressed air or carbon dioxide as the propelling force to eject a ball or non-pointed pellet”.
It would also not necessarily exempt airsoft guns, as 6 mm > .177 caliber…
Pingback: NJ post McDonald « Cemetery's Gun Blob