In Texas, it's illegal to carry a gun into a bar.

In Tennessee, you can bring your handgun into a bar, but you can't have even a sip of alcohol.

In Iowa, the threshold for when you're too drunk to carry a gun is the same as driving: .08.

Many states have similar laws -- but not New Jersey.

It may be because the state's strict laws mean most carrying handguns are current or retired officers, and you might think cops know better than to get drunk while armed.

But that's exactly what happened when Michael Gaffney lost his life to a drunk, off-duty cop in 2016.

Michael Gaffney

Now that his killer has been convicted, his loved ones want lawmakers to create and pass a bill they're calling "Gaffney's Law," named for the 37-year-old Piscataway father killed during a fight with a then-Newark cop outside a Union Township bar in 2016.

Gaffney walked away but Joseph Macchia, 36, restarted the brawl and then he shot him three times, a jury found in June.

Macchia was fired and is now serving a 6-year prison sentence.

"I think all 50 states should have drink and carry laws," said Gaffney's mother, Judy Valdes of Berkeley Township. "This never should have happened to Michael. It should have already been a law."

Johanna Aguilar, Gaffney's girlfriend of 10 years before his death, said she believes most cops are smart enough to leave their guns locked at home if they plan to drink.

"It's common sense. If you're intoxicated you shouldn't be able to carry or fire a weapon, just like you can't drive a car," she said.

Not long after Gaffney died, his friend started a petition on Change.org calling for "Gaffney's Law" to make it illegal for police officers to drink while armed with a handgun or to carry weapons into any bar or establishment where they plan to drink. Valdes said they now think it should apply to anyone who has a handgun in New Jersey.

State law only allows certain people to carry firearms, like current or retired police officers and people who can need it for their jobs, or rare cases when a civilian can prove he or she needs a handgun to protect themselves from a specific, proven threat.

Joseph Macchia (NJ prisons photo)

Aguilar, of Piscataway, said that soon after Gaffney died, she contacted her state senator, Sen. Bob Smith, but never heard back. She contacted and met with Assemblyman Jamel Holley, whose district includes the township where the shooting occurred. She said he seemed interested in packaging it with another bill, but nothing ever came of it.

Aguilar or Valdes have not reached out to any legislators since then, but they're hoping news coverage and the more than 6,000 signatures on the petition will encourage a lawmaker to sponsor a bill.

After hearing about the proposed law Friday, Rev. Robert Moore, the executive director of the Coalition for Peace Action, in Princeton, which includes the anti-gun violence group CeaseFire, said it sounds like the kind of legislation his group could get behind.

"We should proactively take steps to stop that from reoccurring," he said of Gaffney's death.

He said it would need refining, such as specifying whether the legal limit would be .08, as it is for driving a car.

"It certainly sounds like a good idea and a reasonable, common-sense idea," he said.

Calls and emails to the state offices of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) , the Policemen's Benevolent Association (PBA) and the Association of Chiefs of Police were not returned Friday.

James Stewart, president of the Newark FOP Lodge 12, said in a statement that Macchia's case has been dealt with and that a law wasn't necessary.

"I can cite at least five other instances where Newark cops have been in liquor establishments where armed robberies occurred and they were able to take action only because they were armed," he said.

"In today's climate, where everybody knows what the term 'active shooter' means, cops need to be the professionals they took an oath to be, and be responsible for their actions," he said. "More legislation is not the answer."

Alexander Roubian, president of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society, declined to comment on whether such a law is necessary, but said "rule number one" of responsible gun ownership is never mixing alcohol and firearms.

Even if one beer may not make someone intoxicated, he said, instructors and responsible gun advocates always advise gun owners to avoid any alcohol while carrying.

Roubian said noted that drunken shootings are not common, especially in New Jersey, where so few people can carry handguns.

"There's no epidemic of people going out and doing this" because most gun owners are responsible, he said.

Roubian said he also believes that since most people carrying guns in New Jersey are police officers, the state Attorney General's Office could make such a rule statewide without having to go the legislative route.

Current policies

The state Attorney General's office doesn't have existing rules or guidance about when and how officers can carry guns while off duty, spokesman Peter Aseltine said.

"Issues related to law enforcement officers carrying firearms off-duty are addressed in police training and Standard Operating Procedures issued by individual police departments," he said.

The New Jersey Association of Chiefs of Police suggests in a model firearm policy on its website that departments include the following language:

"Officers shall not carry a firearm while consuming or under the influence of alcoholic beverages to any degree whatsoever (unless such consumption is approved in accordance with the performance of official department duties)."

The policy also says that while officers are encouraged to carry their service weapons while off duty "to enhance their ability to take law enforcement action when appropriate and necessary," they should not be carried if officers "anticipate consuming alcoholic beverages."

NJ Advance Media inquired and sent public records requests about the off-duty firearms policies of the seven biggest municipal police departments in the state.

Newark's policy dictates that off-duty officers "may be unarmed at their own discretion" when on vacation, when there is a risk of loss or theft of the gun, such as a beach, or when participating in activities where it would not be advisable. "Such activities especially include those at which alcoholic beverages are consumed," the regulation says.

In Atlantic City, according to Sgt. Kevin Fair, "the decision to carry off-duty is up to the individual officer and they must consider several factors when making that determination, including the consumption of alcohol."

Elizabeth officials said they had no policy specifically addressing off-duty drinking while carrying. Jersey City, Paterson, Trenton, and Camden did not provide answers by Friday evening.

There is a federal law that mentions current or retired officers carrying guns while drinking, but the law is primarily meant to deal with reciprocal carrying rights and not people carrying in their home state, Aseltine said.

The 2004 Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act says "qualified" current and retired officers can carry a handgun almost anywhere in the U.S., but specifies that being under the influence of alcohol or another intoxicating or hallucinatory drug or substance" is disqualifying.

However, the Attorney General's Office decided in 2005 that the federal law did not change gun ownership rules within the state.

'This needs to be done'

Aguilar said she hopes law enforcement wouldn't be opposed to "Gaffney's Law," because it's obviously a bad idea to drink and carry a weapon -- and most cops know that.

Sure, there are "cop bars" where officers like to wind down after a shift, but Aguilar said she believes most lockup their guns before imbibing, based on conversations with her friends and family in law enforcement.

And while some might say that what happened to Gaffney was a rare occurrence, Aguilar pointed to headlines from around the country where drunk officers shot people.

In a single week in 2014, articles from the New York Times and the New York Post detailed three drunken shootings by New York City cops, though one was accidental.

Valdes said she also supports the police, but she thinks the law could prevent unjustifiable killings like the one that took her son.

"If I'm going to get anything out of this, to find peace in my heart, it's getting this law passed so it doesn't happen to anyone else," she said. "It's not even in my heart. It's in my gut. This needs to be done."

"For me, Mike was supposed to be my forever. I never saw any future without him," Aguilar said of her late partner.

She said it's also hard to see his 15-year-old daughter, Alexia, grow up "knowing how much she meant to him, and all the plans he had for her."

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips