Omnibus Bill Includes Provisions from Bills Approved by
Assembly in February
(TRENTON) – Consolidated Assembly Democratic
legislation to combat gun violence in New Jersey by improving firearms purchaser
identification cards and handgun purchase permits, requiring firearms safety
training, enhancing mental health screening and changing how Internet sales of
ammunition are tracked was released Monday by an Assembly panel.
The bill (A-4182) sponsored by Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald
(D-Camden/Burlington) is part of the Assembly Democratic gun violence prevention
effort and features provisions from eight bills approved by the Assembly in
February as part of its sweeping gun violence prevention initiative. The
consolidated bill includes elements of:
·
A3772-3510-3645-3646-3666-3750 (Greenwald, Johnson, Wagner,
Eustace, Cryan, Vainieri Huttle, Mosquera, O’Donnell, Jasey, Quijano, Mainor,
McKeon) - Revises statutes concerning firearms purchaser identification cards
and handgun purchase permits; makes handgun purchase permit valid for four
years.
·
A1683 (Johnson, Eustace) - Criminalizes purchase or
possession of firearms ammunition by persons convicted of certain
crimes.
·
A3748 (O’Donnell, Mainor, McKeon, Jasey, Cryan) - Requires
background check for private gun sales.
“We remain all too familiar with the terrible tragedy the gaps
in the law can bring,” said Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald
(D-Camden/Burlington). “With this effort, we’ll be making great strides toward
making our state safer by updating the rules for gun purchases and permitting
and sales of ammunition over the Internet. These are common sense changes that
will make our state safer without restricting legal and responsible gun
ownership.”
Under the revised bill:
·
The paper firearms purchaser identification card would no
longer be issued to New Jersey residents. Rather, the information on the card
would be embedded in a firearms purchaser identifier with a
picture;
·
The Attorney General and the Superintendent of State Police
would be charged with determining whether this information would be embedded in
the driver’s license or be a separate, independent card;
·
The transition from the current paper card to having this
information embedded in a firearms identifier would take place over a two to
five year phase-in period;
·
Residents who do not have a driver’s license would have
their information embedded on the identification cards that are issued by the
Motor Vehicle Commission;
·
All retail dealers of firearms would be required to use
this system;
·
A person who applies for a card or embedded firearms
purchaser identifier is still required to submit to a criminal history
background check to determine if the applicant is disqualified from owning a
firearm under the law;
·
Any person who purchases a handgun is also required obtain
a card in addition to a permit to purchase a handgun. The permit information
would be embedded on the identifier and would be valid for four years.
The bill requires the Attorney General to develop and implement
the system that will allow retail firearms dealers to use the embedded firearms
purchaser identifier to instantly determine whether that buyer is qualified to
purchase a firearm.
If the superintendent determines after 36 months of testing that
the system is seriously flawed, the superintendent is to report to the Governor
and the Legislature recommending that implementation be postponed until the
Attorney General and the superintendent determine that the system is fully
operational.
After the Attorney General has implemented this system, all
retail firearms dealers would be required to use it. In the case of a handgun
purchase, the system would enable a retail dealer to determine whether the
transaction violates the state’s prohibition on purchasing more than one handgun
in a 30-day period.
“This is all about improved safety and making sure our laws keep
pace with the times,” Greenwald said.
The bill further requires applicants for the firearms purchaser
identifier to present evidence of the successful completion of a firearms safety
class or course approved by the superintendent as a condition for being issued
the card, license, or permit.
In developing the curriculum, the superintendent is to work in
cooperation with a firearms safety panel consisting of four members, with two
members appointed by the Senate President and two by the Speaker of the General
Assembly.
“This will help create safer and more responsible gun
ownership,” Greenwald said. “Learning how to properly handle and store weapons
can go a long way in helping to avoid unnecessary tragedies.”
The bill also requires the court, upon motion of the prosecutor,
to determine whether a person who has been convicted of a crime possesses a
card, a permit to carry a handgun or a firearms identifier. If the court
determines that the convicted person possesses such a card, license or permit,
the court is to revoke the card, license or permit at sentencing, after notice
and a hearing.
The bill also requires the superintendent to establish an
electronic reporting program for dealers to record their Internet sales and
transfers of ammunition on a real-time basis.
The superintendent is to establish an electronic data base
containing all the reported information, which is to be available to all law
enforcement officers on a real time basis. The reporting system would include
the name, address, age, type of documentation used to establish eligibility to
purchase, caliber or gauge of the ammunition sold, numerical amount of
ammunition transferred in the sale and any other information deemed necessary by
the superintendent.
“By tracking relatedly anonymous sales of ammunition over the
Internet and enhancing record keeping, we can help prevent the next tragedy,”
Greenwald said. “Gun violence has become too common in this country. These
measures are meant to stop individuals whose only interest is to hurt and kill
innocent people.”
The measure also requires a person to apply for a duplicate
firearms identifier in the case of a change of residence. A driver’s license or
a state-issued non-driver identification card, which includes a photograph of
the holder, must be used to provide proof of the change of address. The person
must certify that they are not subject to any of the statutory disabilities.
It also mandates that the seven day waiting period for a handgun
purchase permit under current law would be applicable to sales of handguns under
the system implemented by this bill.
It also requires the State Police to access the Civil Commitment
Automatic Tracking System when conducting background checks for the purchase of
firearms and requires a person to possess a card and a permit or a permit to
carry a handgun to purchase or acquire handgun ammunition.
Under amendments made to the bill on Monday, mental health
screeners, psychiatrists and doctors would be required to ask whether persons
believed to be in need of involuntary commitment to mental health treatment
owned a firearm or possessed one of the documents.
The court would have discretion to determine whether the firearm
or documents of a person found to be in need of involuntary commitment should be
searched for by law enforcement, seized, and in the case of a firearms purchaser
identifier, be operationally disabled.
The bill was released by the Assembly Budget Committee.
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