While it’s unlikely a prosecutor would decide to pursue charges against Bob Menendez, Steve Lonegan, a supporter of gun rights, appears to be making a point about New Jersey’s strict gun laws. Lonegan wants Menendez charged for holding a rifle during press conference

Republican congressional candidate Steve Lonegan said Friday he plans to seek criminal charges against Sen. Bob Menendez for briefly holding a display gun at a press conference while standing next to a county sheriff.

Lonegan said Menendez (D-N.J.) violated New Jersey’s strict law on gun possession when he picked up an unloaded and tagged AR-15-style rifle from a display table during a press conference last month and held it for less than 20 seconds.


“I don’t believe this is what you need to go hunting. I don’t believe this is what you need to defend yourself,” Menendez said at the early March event outside the Essex County Public Safety Academy, while standing next to Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura. “The only thing this does is kill as many people in as short a time as possible.”

Lonegan, a conservative former mayor of Bogota who has run unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, governor and other state and local offices, is known for provocative statements. He’s currently seeking the GOP nomination to challenge freshman Democrat Josh Gottheimer in the 5th Congressional District.

While it’s unlikely a prosecutor would decide to pursue charges against Menendez, Lonegan, a supporter of gun rights, appears to be making a point about New Jersey’s strict gun laws.

“Someone who does not have a firearms permit, someone who does not own this firearm cannot pick it up and carry it anywhere,” Lonegan said in a video he posted to YouTube. “Bob Menendez is not above the law.”

Lonegan cites a New Jersey statute which states that anyone in possession of a rifle or shotgun “without having first obtained a firearms purchaser identification card ...“ is guilty of a third-degree crime.

Michael Soliman, Menendez‘s campaign chairman, called Lonegan’s claim “absurd and pathetic.”

Lonegan said the Essex County College police have “refused to allow me to file a complaint with them.” Instead, he said, he will file a complaint with the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. The public safety academy is part of the college.

Though Lonegan said there are “no exceptions whatsoever” to the possession law, gun range customers are allowed to hold and fire guns if they’re not otherwise disqualified and are under the supervision of an instructor.

But gun rights attorney Evan Nappen said that exception wouldn’t apply to Menendez for holding a firearm outside of a gun range.

Nappen said that even holding a gun for less than 20 seconds without a permit technically violates the state gun laws.

“Our laws are narrowly enforced. These things are narrowly construed. There’s no exemption under the case law for the temporary transfer,” Nappen said, adding that possession of slingshots and even a broken BB gun without a permit is against the law in New Jersey.

He acknowledged, however, that prosecutors have discretion when deciding whether to seek charges.

“Whether a prosecutor here would exercise discretion or not is another story,” Nappen said.