An Assembly Resolution urging Congress to oppose federal legislation infringing on state regulation of guns.

Whereas, Both the rate of private gun ownership and the rate of gun violence in the United States far exceed that of other developed countries, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 36,252 firearms deaths in the United States in 2015, including 12,979 homicides and 22,018 suicides with an average of 78,815 non-fatal firearms injuries occurring each year; and

Whereas, The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution confers an individual right to keep and bear arms, but the United States Supreme Court has made it clear that this right, like most rights in the Bill of Rights, is not unlimited; and

Whereas, In District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), and McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742 (2010), the United States Supreme Court held that an outright ban on weapons inside the home unconstitutionally destroyed the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, but in both decisions the Supreme Court articulated that commonsense regulations of guns by the states would not infringe this right; and

Whereas, Although the country's overall rate of gun violence is extremely high, the rate of gun violence varies greatly among the individual states; and

Whereas, States with the most gun violence do not require permits to purchase rifles, shotguns, or handguns; in contrast, states with the least gun violence require a permit or other form of identification to buy a gun; and

Whereas, In 2013, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence graded the gun laws of the different states and found that seven states with the highest grades, including New Jersey, also have the lowest gun death rates nationwide, while many states with the weakest gun laws have the highest gun death rates; and

Whereas, Researchers at Boston's Children's Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health have found that states with the most firearm regulation have a lower rate of firearm fatalities overall, and for suicides and homicides individually; and

Whereas, The Second Amendment right has long been considered an area that is subject to regulation by the states, and courts have held that restrictions such as licensing laws, background checks, and waiting periods are not inconsistent with the Second Amendment; and

Whereas, The earliest American statute prohibiting "going armed" was enacted in 1686 by the New Jersey Assembly, and the statute prohibited "Persons [from] wearing Swords, Daggers, Pistols, Dirks, Stilladoes, Skeines, or any other unusual and unlawful Weapons" in public because it would induce "great Fear and Quarrels among the inhabitants"; and

Whereas, New Jersey's gun safety laws are among the strongest in the nation, as its citizens are prohibited from carrying a handgun in public unless they have obtained a permit to carry that handgun, and a violation constitutes a crime of the second degree; and

Whereas, To obtain a permit to carry a handgun, an applicant is required to demonstrate "justifiable need" which is defined as "the urgent necessity for self-protection, as evidenced by specific threats or previous attacks which demonstrate a special danger to the applicant's life that cannot be avoided by means other than by issuance of a permit to carry a handgun"; and

Whereas, While there have been several legal challenges to the justifiable need standard, including that the standard violates the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment, to date, both State and federal courts have upheld the constitutionality of the State's justifiable need requirement, and the United States Supreme Court has denied certiorari on the constitutional challenge; and

Whereas, It is the long-standing right of the states to regulate gun safety that has resulted in New Jersey's strict gun safety laws and corresponding lower rate of gun violence, and it is, therefore, crucial that this right be safeguarded; and

Whereas, Congress's opposition to any federal legislation that would infringe upon state regulation of firearms safety is vital to the preservation of the right of the individual states to regulate gun safety laws, a right which has been explicitly recognized by the United States Supreme Court and has been held to be consistent with the Second Amendment; now, therefore,

Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. This House urges the United States Congress to oppose any federal legislation that would infringe upon state regulation of firearms in order to preserve the right of New Jersey and other states to regulate gun safety, a right that has been explicitly recognized by the United States Supreme Court and has been held to be consistent with the Second Amendment.

2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and each member of Congress elected from this State.

STATEMENT

This resolution urges Congress to oppose any federal legislation that would infringe upon state regulation of firearms. The long-standing right of the individual states to regulate gun safety laws has been explicitly recognized by the United States Supreme Court and has been held to be consistent with the Second Amendment.

The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution confers an individual right to keep and bear arms; however, the United States Supreme Court had made it clear that this right, like most rights in the Bill of Rights, is not unlimited. In District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), and McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742 (2010), the United States Supreme Court held that an outright ban on weapons inside the home unconstitutionally destroyed the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, but in both decisions, the Supreme Court articulated that commonsense regulations of guns by the states would not infringe this right. The Second Amendment right has long been considered an area that is subject to regulation by the states, and courts have held that restrictions such as licensing laws, background checks, and waiting periods are not inconsistent with the Second Amendment.

The rate of gun violence varies greatly among the individual states. New Jersey's gun safety laws are among the strongest in the nation, and New Jersey is one of the states with the lowest rate of gun violence. Its citizens are prohibited from carrying a handgun in public unless they have obtained a permit to carry that handgun. To obtain a permit to carry a handgun, an applicant is required to demonstrate "justifiable need" which is defined as "the urgent necessity for self-protection, as evidenced by specific threats or previous attacks which demonstrate a special danger to the applicant's life that cannot be avoided by means other than by issuance of a permit to carry a handgun." Both State and federal courts have upheld the constitutionality of the State's justifiable need requirement, and the United States Supreme Court has denied certiorari on the constitutional challenge.

It is the long-standing right of the states to regulate gun safety that has enabled New Jersey to enact strict gun safety laws, with a corresponding lower rate of gun violence. It is, therefore, crucial that Congress safeguard this right by opposing federal legislation that infringes upon the right of the states to regulate gun safety.