SJ man denied gun permits due to wife

A Burlington County man cannot buy guns because his wife is a convicted felon who’s been accused of domestic violence, an appeals court has ruled.

The man, identified only as J.H., said he would keep the guns locked up and out of his wife’s control, according to Thursday’s ruling. The firearms were intended to replace “antiquated” guns dating to the 1940s that the man currently uses for target shooting with his teenage son.

But a two-judge panel said the guns’ presence in the man’s home would give his wife greater access to firearms, creating an unacceptable threat to public health, safety and welfare.

The ruling upheld similar decisions by a Superior Court judge and J.H.’s local chief of police, who was not identified.

The man’s attorney, Kenneth Aita of Haddon Heights, declined to comment.

According to the ruling, J.H. was denied approval for a firearm purchaser’s ID card and four permits to buy guns. The decision noted the man’s identity was withheld because the case involved allegations of domestic violence and to protect his son’s privacy.

The ruling said J.H. and his 13-year-old son engage in recreational shooting, including skeet shooting and target practice at a local range. It said J.H. currently has “some antiquated but usable rifles dating from the 1940s to the 1950s.”

In its decision, the appellate panel said J.H.’s 2nd Amendment right to bear arms was “subject to reasonable limitations.”

It noted J.H.’s wife cannot own guns because she has two felony convictions for drug offenses in 2000 and 2005. But it also observed police were called to the family’s home in December 2011, when J.H. alleged his wife had hit hm.

“At that time, J.H. told officers that his wife was drinking a lot and needed help,” the ruling said.

The wife also was convicted of driving while intoxicated in 2013, when police stopped her vehicle twice on the same day. “During one of these encounters, officers found a bayonet inside her vehicle,” the ruling noted.

At a hearing, J.H. said the bayonet was his and that he had left it in the car’s trunk after attending a trade show. The ruling indicated J.H.’s wife, while driving under the influence, had taken the bayonet from the trunk and placed it in the vehicle’s passenger compartment.

At a hearing last year before Superior Court Judge Thomas Kelly in Mount Holly, J.H. testified his wife “had received help and was no longer drinking.” Kelly, however, noted the wife could relapse and said the woman’s background “raised serious concerns about her living in a house with firearms.”

Reach Jim Walsh at jwalsh@courierpostonline.com or (856) 486-2646. Tweet him @jimwalsh_cp