Jersey gun sales soar, but state gets high gun-safety rating

With gun sales soaring in New Jersey, a gun-control group is giving the state an "A-minus," for having some of the toughest gun laws in the country.

The rating comes from The Law Center To Prevent Gun Violence, based in San Francisco, on its Gun Law State Scorecard. New Jersey ranks 45th out of 50 for its gun death rate, according to center attorney Allison Anderman.

Anderman says the center sees a strong correlation that has been demonstrated year after year between the strength of a state's gun laws and its gun death rate, "and so yes, states that have weak gun laws overwhelmingly tend to have higher gun death rates."

Also, Anderman says, statistics showing gun sales background checks in Jersey tripling between 2006 and 2013 may be misleading: "You may have more people in New Jersey who already have guns buying more guns."

Bob Viten, vice president of the Coalition of New Jersey Sportsmen, who owns a Glassboro gun shop, says sales have been "tremendous."

"People who have never bought firearms before are buying them. We are having couples come in who are in their '60s and '70s buying guns for the first time," Viten said.

His take on New Jersey's high gun safety rating?

"I do not know if it is because of the gun laws or because of just the way people behave. I know that the increase in sales have been tremendous over the past few years," he said.

Viten says at his gun shop, the staff is encouraging everyone who buys a gun, "If you have not shot before, to take a safety course, learn how to shoot, and be safe with that firearm."

The Law Center's Anderman says Jersey's third-strongest gun laws in the nation correlate to our low gun death rate.

Joe Cutter is the afternoon news anchor on New Jersey 101.5.