Sponsored by:

Assemblyman RONALD S. DANCER

District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)

Assemblyman ERIK PETERSON

District 23 (Hunterdon, Somerset and Warren)

SYNOPSIS

Permits Adjutant General to authorize members of NJ National Guard to carry firearm at recruiting centers.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.

An Act concerning the carrying of firearms by members of the New Jersey National Guard at recruiting centers and supplementing P.L.1963, c.109 (C.38A:1-1).

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. a. The Adjutant General of the Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs may authorize one or more members of the New Jersey National Guard assigned to each National Guard recruiting center, while those members are actually on duty, or while those members are traveling between places of duty, to carry a firearm in a manner prescribed by the Adjutant General.

b. The Adjutant General shall ensure that any such member receives appropriate training in the use of the weapon, including in all laws applicable to the carrying and use of a weapon in New Jersey. The Adjutant General shall adopt policies concerning the security of the weapon when the member who is authorized is not on duty.

2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill permits the Adjutant General to authorize one or more members of the New Jersey National Guard assigned to each National Guard recruiting center, while those members are actually on duty, or while those members are traveling between places of duty, to carry an authorized weapon in a manner prescribed by the Adjutant General. There may be one or more armed members of the National Guard at each National Guard recruiting center. The Adjutant General is to ensure that any such member receives appropriate training in the use of the weapon, including all laws applicable to the carrying and use of a weapon in New Jersey, and adopt policies concerning the security of the weapon when the member who is authorized is not on duty.

On Thursday, July 16, 2015, Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez opened fire at a military recruiting center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and then moved to a U.S. Navy facility seven miles away where he fatally shot four U.S. Marines, one U.S. Navy Sailor, and wounded two others before dying by police gunfire.

This is not the first incident of its kind, however. In 2009, a shooting at a military base in Fort Hood, Texas, left 13 people dead and more than 30 others injured. Another shooting in April of 2014 at several locations on the Fort Hood military base resulted in the deaths of five people, including the gunman, and fourteen injuries.

States including Indiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Utah, and Florida have made changes to permit guard members to be armed in the wake of the shootings in Chattanooga. New Jersey cannot allow its citizen soldiers to remain vulnerable to attack in this way. This legislation will help better safeguard military facilities and allow those who bravely defend this country and this State to defend themselves. This legislation will implement lifesaving security measures in light of this national tragedy.