TRENTON, N.J. – New Jersey legal gun owners scored a rare victory this week courtesy of the left-leaning state supreme court.

On Tuesday, the high court issued an opinion in In Re Application for Permit to Carry a Handgun of Calvin Carlstrom; the unanimous decision (click here) provides that “a hearing must be held whenever the court contemplates denying a handgun carry-permit that has been approved by the police chief or superintendent.”

–

The Union County case pertains to a movie theater security guard who applied for and was approved for a carry permit by Roselle Park’s police chief; however, a Union County Superior Court judge subsequently denied Carlstrom his desired permit without holding a hearing. The case has now been remanded to the Law Division for a hearing.

The justices further rules that the hearing must be held within 30 days.

Second Amendment advocates hope the high court’s ruling is a small but significant step forward for gun rights in the Garden State, one of America’s most hostile jurisdictions for legal gun owners.

This opinion was handed down in the same week that NJ Advance Media reported that nearly 200 individuals have had their weapons seized under New Jersey’s Murphy-era ‘red flag’ law.

–