Hunters, trappers and legal gun owners are under attack in New Jersey

Trenton – Sportsmen coalition speaks out against onerous proposed regulations.

The New Jersey Outdoor Alliance on Friday released a statement condemning recent attempts to change firearms ID card regulations in the state as little more than the continued bullying and scapegoating of law-abiding gun owners.

“The notion that this legislation will make an impact on anyone but law-abiding sportsmen and target shooters is preposterous” said NJOA spokesman Cody McLaughlin, “The math is clear as to how illegal guns end up becoming trafficked on the street and onerous expenses and regulations to law-abiding sportsmen is nothing short of a cheap attempt to scapegoat legal gun owners – and our members won’t stand for it.”

On Thursday June 20, 2019 the New Jersey Assembly passed bill A-5452 to change the way Firearms Purchasers Identification Cards are issued. Under the guise of limiting the possession of illegal guns in New Jersey our Assembly passed a bill that would requires all 1.3 million currently active cards to be renewed within 49 months from the time the bill is signed into law. The bill was passed without any regard to the problems that it would cause for legal gun owners and the police departments that would be required to reissue these cards if it became law. In addition, the cards would expire every four years and would have to be renewed.

The fast facts tell a different story:

• The yearly average of homicide rate with hand guns from 2000 to 2008 is 220/year. Since the passage of the one hand gun a month bill in 2009 the yearly average for 2010 to 2015 is 261.5/year.
• The Purchasers ID card in question is used to purchase long guns, shotguns and rifles only.  The firearm of choice to commit murder in New Jersey is the hand gun.
• Over a ten-year period, 2009 through 2016, over 69% of all murders were caused by handgun, of which over 87% were shown to have entered New Jersey from other states.
• The yearly average homicide rate for all long guns has remained fairly constant at about 7/year, while hand guns are used in about 70% of all homicides in New Jersey long guns average 1.3%. Of the long guns used in New Jersey homicides that were recovered and traced 80% had either been reported stolen or came from out of state sources.

All of the information and figures contained in this report can be found online in the N. J. State Police Uniform Crime Report for the years listed.

About the New Jersey  Outdoor Alliance: New Jersey Outdoor Alliance’s mission is “preservation through conservation.” NJOA serves as a grassroots coalition of outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen dedicated to the conservation of natural resources and environmental stewardship that champions the intrinsic value of fishing, hunting and trapping, among opinion leaders, policy makers, and the public at-large. To learn more about the organization, please visit: https://njoutdooralliance.org/.

###