New Jersey gun safety bill calls for banning sales to people who pose 'extreme risk'

Strict new gun restrictions against people deemed a threat to themselves or to others passed the New Jersey Assembly on Monday, on the heels of the March for Our Lives protests that drew thousands to anti-gun demonstrations in cities nationwide.

The measure, dubbed the Extreme Risk Protective Order Act of 2018, calls for protective orders against people who pose a significant danger when in possession of firearms.

The bill, backed largely by Democrats, passed in a 59-13-5 vote.

“We’ve seen too many ‘what ifs’ when it comes to these mass shootings, often centered around the question of why didn’t somebody do something to take guns away from someone who poses a danger,” the bill's sponsor, Assemblyman John McKeon, D-Essex/Morris, said in a statement. “This bill makes it easier to accomplish that goal and, ultimately, protect our communities and our children."

Assembly Democrats Lou Greenwald, Mila Jasey, Tim Eustace, Andrew Zwicker, Carol Murphy and Paul Moriarty are co-sponsors of the bill. A matching bill was introduced to the Senate earlier this month.

The measure establishes procedures for obtaining a protective order against people who are deemed a threat if given access to a firearm. Those people would be prohibited from possessing or purchasing a firearm or ammunition, and from holding a firearms purchaser identification card, a permit to purchase a handgun and a permit to carry a firearm.

“We need to do more to keep guns away from those who pose a threat to themselves or their community,” Eustace, D-Bergen/Passaic, said in the statement. “This idea carefully lays out a fair and just process while putting safety first.”

The bill was approved on the heels of this weekend's March for Our Lives protest in Washington, D.C., and other cities across the country. Several protests were held simultaneously across New Jersey.

"The energy of the tens of thousands of New Jerseyans this past weekend demanding action on gun safety continues today," Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement. "I look forward to the State Senate taking these bills up as quickly as possible and sending them to my desk for my signature. The people of New Jersey have demanded we act, and we must.”

But the bill did not come without opposition.

Second Amendment advocates rallied in New Jersey’s state capital in opposition, many wearing National Rifle Association hats and carrying signs that read “NRA Stand and Fight.”

The proposed measure

The bill, among other things, authorizes a family or household member or law enforcement officer to file a petition for a "temporary extreme risk protective order" against a person.

If a petition is filed against a law enforcement officer, the officer's employer will be required to initiate an internal affairs investigation, under the measure.

The court would be expected to consider:

Whether a person has a history of threats or acts of violence directed toward themselves or others

If the person has a history of using physical force against others

If the person has a recent violation of a restraining or other protective order

Or if the person has a conviction for a violent offense or a history of drug or alcohol abuse.

Under the bill, the temporary order would remain in effect until the court considers whether a one-year extreme risk protective order should be issued.

A hearing would be held within 10 days of the filing of the temporary order, and the order may be extended for another year if requested by the petitioner within three months of the expiration of the existing order.

The bill further calls for people who have had a final extreme risk protective order entered against them to be included in the Domestic Violence Central Registry throughout the duration of the order. The subject of an order has one opportunity to have an order terminated, according to the bill.

Any person who violates an order may face a fine of up to $10,000 or up to 1½ years in jail. A person with an order against them who acquires or controls a firearm during the tenure of the order may face up to a $15,000 fine or three to five years in jail.

"The gun bills will get done in the Senate. There’s no concern," said Senate President Stephen Sweeney, "We have to put them through committee, but we’ll get them done. I’m saying right now, I’ll be voting for all the bills. And if I’m voting for them, they’re going to pass.”

This article contains material from The Associated Press.