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Gov. Chris Christie, shown here at a news conference earlier this month, has said previously that he supports New Jersey's tough gun laws.

(Patti Sapone/The Star-Ledger)

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie's administration declined to defend two of New Jersey's toughest gun laws in a high-profile case decided Monday by a state appeals court.

The court upheld both laws anyway, finding that New Jersey has a "well-established record" of policing firearms and can place strict requirements on people seeking permits to carry concealed handguns.

But in an 86-page opinion by Judge Jane Grall, the court added that Christie's attorney general "regrettably" chose not to defend the state's laws — an unusual move that administration officials did not comment on Monday.

The appeals court ruled against two retired arson investigators in the Newark Fire Department, who were denied permits to carry concealed handguns after more than a decade on the job. The two men argued that New Jersey’s gun controls were so severe they were unconstitutional.

New Jersey has some of the toughest gun laws in the country, and dozens of residents have lost similar challenges over the years. But legal experts said they could not recall the last time a New Jersey governor refused to defend a gun control law.

"The attorney general participated in the (trial court) but, regrettably, declined to participate here," Grall wrote for the three-judge panel. "This matter implicates criminal laws, involves a determination of the (trial court) and presents constitutional challenges to state statutes. The attorney general is the state’s chief law enforcement officer; the head of the Department of Law and Public Safety ... and is entitled to defend a challenge to a statute."

Officials in Christie’s office and the Attorney General’s office did not respond to several requests for comment Monday.

The Republican governor’s move renewed a long debate over firearms in New Jersey. Democrats and gun control advocates criticized Christie for refusing to defend public safety laws while gun rights activists and Republicans praised him for taking a stand for gun rights.

Bryan Miller, executive director of the nonprofit group Heeding God’s Call, said Christie sat out the case to bolster his chances of winning the GOP presidential nomination in 2016. Miller said it was "unconscionable that the governor of the state of New Jersey would fail to actively defend life-saving laws that are in fact amazingly popular in the state."

"It seems clear that the governor is far more interested in making the right wing of the national Republican Party happy than he is in protecting the safety of New Jersey’s homes, schools and communities," he said.

Steve Lonegan, a conservative Republican who ran for U.S. Senate this year, congratulated Christie for "making a statement" in support of gun rights in one of the most restrictive states.

"The right-to-carry laws in New Jersey are atrocious," said Lonegan. "People who have legitimate need cannot get access to firearms. An example would be a restaurant owner. They carry a lot of cash. They can’t get a handgun when they’re leaving the restaurant at the end of the day."

The investigators who filed the lawsuit, Jonathan R. Wheeler and George A. Daudelin, argued that it was unconstitutional to have a state law requiring residents to show "justifiable need" and "an urgent necessity ... for self-protection" to get a concealed-carry permit.

They also challenged a second law, which allows some retired law enforcement officers to obtain such permits, but not arson investigators. Daudelin and Wheeler contended they were being denied permits arbitrarily, but the court disagreed.

"Only those who served full-time and regularly in designated law enforcement agencies and had broad police powers and unlimited carrying privileges are eligible," the court ruled. Arson investigators "work for the fire department, and have limited carrying privileges and police powers."

Their attorney, J. Sheldon Cohen, declined to comment.

Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) said it was "horrendous" for Christie to ignore the case and said the Attorney General’s office should notify lawmakers and the public when it declines to defend state laws.

"To say I’m shocked would be an understatement," Weinberg said. "I have a few questions that need to be put directly to the attorney general. Does he decide which laws of the state of New Jersey he would like to defend or not defend? ... We in the Legislature and the people of the state of New Jersey are owed a complete explanation of what went on here."

Robert Williams, an expert on state constitutional law at Rutgers Law School in Camden, said governors rarely refuse to defend a state law.

Williams pointed out that President Obama’s Justice Department recently declined to fight for the Defense of Marriage Act, which the U.S. Supreme Court later struck down in large part in June.

"You don’t see it very often," Williams said. "It does leave the courts without what’s considered to be the expert opinion of the state on the constitutionality of a law."

The Essex County Prosecutor's Office defended the laws on appeal. A spokeswoman for the state judiciary said the attorney general submitted a "letter of non-participation" in the case. A similar challenge is pending before the state Supreme Court this year.

Christie has said previously that he supported New Jersey's gun laws. In response to the Sandy Hook mass shooting, the governor signed close to a dozen bills that increased penalties for unlawful gun possession and smuggling, among other measures.

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