NJ Requires Some Gun Owners to Buy Insurance, Limits Carrying

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation requiring concealed-carry gun permit holders to buy liability insurance and barring them from bringing their firearms to many public and private places. The laws almost certainly will face legal challenges.

The most controversial law prohibits concealed-carry permit holders from bearing arms in about 20 “sensitive” areas, including schools, government buildings, casinos, bars, restaurants and concert halls.

The restrictions are some of the nation’s toughest in the six months since the US Supreme Court struck down a century-old New York law and expanded carrying rights. The high court ruling did leave the door open for state and local governments to restrict firearms in sensitive locations, prompting some states to craft their own limits.

Phil Murphy

Source: Bloomberg

Murphy, a 65-year-old Democrat, joined governors in Massachusetts, New York, California and elsewhere promising such legislation immediately after the justices ruled. Gun-rights groups have vowed to challenge any new restrictions.

“Do we want to be like Mississippi or Alabama, whose firearm death rates are nearly five times ours, or do we want to remain a state where people can actually be and feel safe?” Murphy said at a signing ceremony Thursday at the Scotch Plains Public Library, which falls into the category of places where concealed-carry will be banned.

Scott Bach, head of the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, said the bills signed by Murphy were in violation of the Second Amendment right to bear arms. In October, New York City Mayor Eric Adams prohibited guns in Times Square, part of a broader state effort that has led to legal challenges.

“The legislation will go down in flames in court,” Bach said in a statement.

New Jersey, the most densely populated US state, historically has some of the nation’s strictest gun limits, with bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. The US is on pace to record its highest annual number of mass shootings since at least 2014, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit group that tracks such incidents.

Applicants for New Jersey concealed-carry permits now must present four endorsements from non-relatives, rather than three, and be interviewed by law-enforcement officials. Permittees also must pay a $200 fee, up from $50, and complete safety and training classes. They also must keep insurance proof with them whenever they are armed.

“The bill creates a complicated and expensive process to get the carry permit, then denies the permit holders the ability to even use the permit they just worked so hard to get,” state Senator Ed Durr, a Republican and outspoken opponent of the legislation, said before the final vote in the Democratic-led legislature on Monday.

The legislation had support from New Jersey police and teachers unions and national groups including Everytown for Gun Safety, which is backed by Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Elise Young in Trenton at eyoung30@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Shelly Banjo at sbanjo@bloomberg.net

Mark Schoifet, Tal Barak Harif

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