New Jersey Appeals Ruling Blocking Gunowner Insurance Mandate, Handgun Restrictions

A federal judge has blocked part of New Jersey’s new handgun carry law that barred weapons from being carried in so-called sensitive places and halted a new insurance mandate the law sought to institute.

The court order by chief U.S. District Judge Renee Marie Bumb blocks state officials from enforcing the law, which barred lawful carry of firearms in certain places. Among the places covered by the judge’s order are: within 100 feet of certain public gatherings, zoos, bars and restaurants and certain entertainment facilities. The judge’s order did not specify that it was ending prohibitions in places such as schools, universities or child care facilities.

The order also blocked an insurance mandate for firearms carriers that was scheduled to take effect in July.

The order blocks only part of the law, which Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy signed late last year, and the judge wrote that she found most of the law’s permitting requirements to be consistent with the Second Amendment.

“This Nation has historically disarmed dangerous individuals or individuals who could endanger the public with a firearm. With some exceptions, Chapter 131’s firearm permitting scheme generally adheres to that historical tradition and aims to keep firearms out of the hands of those who could harm the public,” Bumb wrote.

But the opinion is scathing in parts, as well. “What the Second Amendment prohibits the States from doing, and what the State of New Jersey has done here is to ‘prevent law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their right to keep and bear arms,'” Bumb wrote, quoting the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision on handgun carry permits.

The 2022 law stemmed from the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision that struck down a New York state law requiring people to show proper cause to get a carry license. That ruling affected states with similar laws, like New Jersey, where applicants had to show justifiable need to get a permit.

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