TRENTON -- A longtime progressive state senator plans to call for loosening one of the state's harshest gun laws, and will seek to reduce the mandatory penalties for unlawful possession of a handgun, NJ Advance Media has learned.

State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), who is running for governor, said he will introduce the legislation Monday.

"My position would be that pure 'unlawful possession,' not with committing a crime or intent to commit one, that the mandatory minimums be removed," he said.

Currently, unlawful possession of a handgun is a crime of the second degree in New Jersey, which means it's punishable by five to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $150,000, or both.

Lesniak said he will introduce legislation that would reduce the punishment to three to five years, a fine of up to $15,000, or both, but with no mandatory minimum sentence.

Lesniak said he was motivated to change the law after a string of legal gun owners, many from out of state, ran afoul of the unlawful possession statute out of simple ignorance.

In 2008, the state's Graves Act, which already mandated a minimum three-year sentence for anyone who used a firearm in commission of a crime, was amended to make even simple possession of a firearm a violation of New Jersey's unlawful possession statute, even if it wasn't being used to commit a crime.

That has surprised out of state motorists, some of whom learn of it only after they inform police who pulled over for a minor traffic infraction that they have a legally-owned firearm in their possession.

In most states where concealed carry of firearms is permitted, motorists are required to inform a peace officer they have a handgun if they are pulled over for a traffic infraction.

But in New Jersey, doing so will lead to immediate arrest for "unlawful possession of a firearm," as well as often staggering legal bills, the possibility of jail time and a criminal record.

Gov. Chris Christie pardoned several such people last month, making good on a promise he'd made during his run for president in 2015.

It's a substantial change in position for Lesniak, who as late as December 2015 insisted "we shouldn't do anything to make it easier for people with gun permits" in response to Christie's push for leniency in such cases of ignorance before the law.

Current state law requires that a gun "shall be carried unloaded and contained in a closed and fastened case, gunbox, securely tied package, or locked in the trunk of the automobile in which it is being transported, and in the course of travel, shall include only such deviations as are reasonably necessary under the circumstances."

Lesniak said he had empathy for those innocently ensnared, "whether it's the stupid guy who put a loaded gun in his bag and then put it through security at Newark, or the woman who has a permit and drives to a pistol range to shoot and has it stored in her glove box."

He added that the 1980s law "was also written at a time when mandatory minimums were in vogue" but that as the rock cocaine epidemic demonstrated, "in general, mandatory minimums are not good policy" because "they tie the hands of judges and prosecutors."

As early as 1994, federal studies of criminal victimization rates for the periods before and after mandatory minimums took effect failed to demonstrate any reduction in crime that could be attributed to the mandatory minimums.

In 2014, the New Jersey state attorney general offered a "clarification" to the law's harsh sentencing guidelines, advising prosecutors that in the case of those who had only inadvertently run afoul of the law, "imprisonment is neither necessary or appropriate to serve the interests of justice and public safety."

Lesniak said that while the guidance is helpful, it's no replacement for a proper revision of the statute.

"It is a way to get around the Graves Act (revision) but it's only a directive, and it shouldn't be how we do things in America," Lesniak said.

While the governor has already been on the record arguing as such, it's unclear how much appetite there will be for such a bill on the part of Democratic lawmakers who control both houses of the Legislature.



Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) said that she was "open" to Lesniak's revisions, but would reserve judgment until he dropped a bill into the Legislature's hopper on Monday.

Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.