Several New Jersey municipalities have adopted a plan they hope will make it easier for low-income residents to obtain a license to carry a concealed firearm.
Under the plan—implemented by at least six boroughs so far—residents who pay the required $200 license fee can have the municipality’s $150 share refunded by presenting proof they paid the fee.
A representative of a gun rights organization said his group, working with local officials and residents, has presented the plan to at least 50 municipal governments so far.
Under current state law, residents must pay $200 in fees for a license to carry a concealed firearm. Of that, $50 goes to the state, and $150 is paid to the municipality. The mayor of Englishtown, Daniel Francisco, says the plan essentially reduces the fee for anyone who requests a refund.
Francisco says towns are required by the state to charge $150 for a license. But the state has no say in what towns do with the money.
“So, we’re following the law. We’re collecting the fee,” Francisco told The Epoch Times. “We‘ll take it from you, because we have to statutorily, but then we’ll give it right back to you if you ask us to.”
In addition to Englishtown, the boroughs of Franklin, Dumont, Hopatcong, Butler, and Vernon have either passed resolutions or adopted ordinances to refund the fee.
Joe LoPorto, director of legal operations for the New Jersey Firearm Owners syndicate, said the plan has been presented to at least 50 more boroughs. He expects several to adopt it in the coming days and weeks.
Second Amendment activists say the idea is to enable residents to exercise their constitutional rights, despite obstacles placed before them by the state. LoPorto accused state officials of wanting to hinder residents’ ability to obtain guns.
“That’s unambiguously the intention here,” LoPorto told The Epoch Times.
LoPorto said that New Jersey has a tiered system that does more to endanger people than protect them.
He said the state requires a $50 firearms identification card to own a gun and ammunition. Next is the $150 license to carry a gun. This doesn’t count the $25 pistol purchase permit required for each pistol a person buys.
New Jersey was one of several states that adopted what have been called “Bruen response laws,” after the June 23, 2022, U.S. Supreme Court Decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen.
Prior to Bruen, New Jersey, like New York, required those who wanted to carry a gun for protection to demonstrate to police that they had a “special need.” Stephen Halbrook, an attorney and author, said the effect was that only the politically connected and wealthy could carry a gun.
In Bruen, the high court ruled that citizens have a constitutional right to carry a gun in public for self-defense and do not have to show a “special need” which was required by New Jersey law at the time.
The court also scrapped a two-part means-balancing test. The court ruled that a gun law must align with a plain reading of the Second Amendment’s text and the historical tradition of gun regulation at the time of the Amendment’s ratification.
“So Bruen told Jersey and New York and California and these other states that you have to issue concealed weapon permits on an equal basis with everybody,” Halbrook said.
In response, New Jersey’s legislature passed a so-called “carry killer” law. The new law placed most of the state off limits to concealed firearms. The law prohibited carrying a gun on private property that was open to the public, such as a business, unless the property owner posted a sign specifically saying firearms were permitted.
In May 2023, Chief U.S. District Court Judge Renée Marie Bumb issued an injunction against the enforcement of the law. The state appealed, and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily lifted parts of Bumb’s order—such as the private property rule.
Her order also left the fees in place.
The appeals court has not issued a final ruling yet.
Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin has been a strong proponent of the state’s gun licensing regime. The attorney general’s website highlights the enforcement of New Jersey’s gun laws, stating that it reduces crime in the state.
His office declined to comment for this story.
LoPorto said the reason for the crime reduction is the increased number of armed citizens since the law changed. He said the concealed carry license fees contribute to crime by discriminating against low-income residents in high-crime areas.
“We should all just fundamentally agree that hiding a core right behind a paywall is just inherently immoral,” LoPorto said.
