NJ gun control: Lawmakers vote to expand background checks, limit magazines

Catherine Carrera | NorthJersey

Show Caption Hide Caption Father of Parkland victim at Phil Murphy event Fred Guttenberg, father of Parkland shooting victim Jaime Guttenberg, speaks in support of Gov Phil Murphy measures on gun control.

New Jersey’s already strict gun laws could get even stricter when Gov. Phil Murphy signs off on a package of bills lawmakers approved Thursday, measures advanced after the shooting in February that left 17 people dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

The bills include new restrictions on bullets, background checks and magazine sizes, and Murphy has said he would sign the bills.

"New Jersey is one executive decision away from enacting the strongest gun laws in the nation," said Assembly Majority Leader Louis D. Greenwald, D-Camden. "The journey to creating stronger gun laws that will keep our communities safe, unfortunately, has been a long, arduous one, yet I am proud to say we are close to the finish line."

Gun rights advocates said they feel the measures attack their right to defend themselves.

“None of the bills passed today will make anyone safer,” Scott Bach, executive director of the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs, said in a statement. “Instead they have enacted a series of measures limiting the ability of citizens to defend themselves, and enabling those hostile to gun rights to abuse legal process to harass gun owners."

Sen. Jeff Van Drew, D-Cumberland, running for Congress to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Frank LoBiondo in the 2nd Congressional District, voted in favor of some of the bills but against measures to lower the maximum ammunition rounds from 15 to 10 and to codify the "justifiable need to carry a handgun."

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Van Drew said he voted against the bill to lower the ammunition, which Sandy Hook Elementary School parents had advocated for, because it affects "law-abiding people" who participate in target-range competitions.

"They're not going to be able to compete now in certain areas because in many places in the country it takes 15 [rounds] to actually be able to have that competition," he said. "So for that reason I didn't think it was really fair."

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NJ congressional candidate speaks at pro-gun rally Seth Grossman, who is running for office in New Jersey 2nd Congressional District, addresses the crowd at pro-gun rally in Trenton on April 14, 2018.

He also said reducing the rounds wouldn't help in the efforts to prevent mass shootings.

"To actually believe that going from 15 to 10 is going to help, I really don't believe that it is," Van Drew said.

Van Drew, a conservative South Jersey Democrat labeled by Moms Demand Action as a "gun sense candidate," could win over moderates in his district with Thursday's votes but lose support from progressive Democrats. Van Drew won his party’s nomination two days before the Senate put the bills up for a vote. The Assembly approved the package in March.

It’s unlikely that the measures will have much practical impact, according to a recent analysis by The Record and NorthJersey.com. Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said the real issue comes from "illegal guns."

"We're doing our very best to send a message that we want to tighten our laws up, but at the end of the day there's a lot more work than what we're doing here," Sweeney said. "I don't want to give anybody any false hope; there's a lot of work that needs to be done."

Murphy recently appointed Bill Castner as his senior adviser on gun safety to oversee the state's policy on firearms and to work with other states on changes.

Here's a look at the bills heading to the governor's desk:

Concealed carry permit restrictions

A-2758 creates a stricter standard of what applicants for a concealed carry permit have to show to prove they need the permit.

Background checks expansion

A-2757 expands background checks to include private gun sales.

Red flag laws

A-1181 creates a process by which police can seize any firearm held by a person deemed dangerous by a mental health professional.

A-1217 would authorize police to temporarily take guns from a person deemed by a judge to pose a threat after a current or former household member raises concerns about the person. The court would have to hold a hearing within 10 days to determine whether to return the weapons to that person, lawmakers said.

Armor-piercing bullet ban

A-2759 adds bullets capable of penetrating body armor to a lengthy list of prohibited weapons and devices in New Jersey.

Limited capacity for gun magazines

A-2761 imposes a 10-round limit on the capacity of gun magazines, down from the current 15.

Email: carrera@northjersey.com