Gov. Chris Christie has quickly embraced a report by a commission he created, calling for looser gun regulations and easier access to concealed carry permits.

But the report is getting a decidedly mixed response from gun rights groups.

While the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs — the local NRA affiliate — urged its members to call Christie's office and thank him, gun rights activists in the New Jersey Second Amendment Society say they're "appalled and dumbfounded at the fact that any true supporters of the Second Amendment are reacting to this recent report with celebration."

“We welcome Governor Christie’s acceptance of these historic recommendations and thank the governor for taking unprecedented action in support of Second Amendment rights,” ANJRPC Executive Director Scott Bach said in a statement issued Monday. “When fully implemented, these executive actions will make a real difference in the lives of law-abiding gun owners, without compromising the governor’s tough record going after violent criminals.”

The Second Amendment Society, by contrast, answered the report with a statement titled "We Are All Still Slaves.

The commission's report looks to better define the "justifiable need" criteria New Jersey uses to grant concealed carry permits, and to clarify regulations for transporting guns throughout the state. It also looks to speed and provide a more uniform gun permit application process.

“New Jersey’s extraordinarily strict and expansive gun control laws and regulations have given rise to rules and restrictions that are complicated and unfair to law abiding New Jerseyans," Christie said Monday, announcing his support for the commission's findings.

In a statement Tuesday morning, the Second Amendment Society said "if anything, New Jerseyans looking to protect their right to bear arms should be infuriated with the continued deception from our state government and all of its representatives, especially Governor Christie."

"This commission has in no way increased the right to carry, or in any tangible way improved the turn-around times for permits. In fact, it has potentially enshrined 'justifiable need' forever in the Garden State, which should shake our supporters to the bone," the Second Amendment Society wrote.

The group criticized the commission for creating a framework for New Jersey's nebulous "justifiable need" criteria — through which the state grants concealed carry handgun permits with the approval of local law enforcement and judges — saying it lets the state hold onto an unfair system tries to strengthen it against court challenges.

"The status quo where law enforcement and judges continue to wantonly deny applicants in no way will change," the society wrote.

The commission's report itself questioned whether New Jersey's "justifiable need" requirement really could pass Constitutional muster — but still recommended changes to clarify it, not abolish it.

The Second Amendment Society also criticized the commission for not recommending consequences for law enforcement officers who don't fall in line with any new standards for fairer and quicker gun permit application processing.

Criticism over the report had the strange effect giving both pro-gun-control Democrats in the State legislature and anti-gun-control groups like the society a common message — that Christie and the commission were pandering without making meaningful change

New Jersey Advance Media quoted Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D- Bergen) saying the commission's recommendations were "something for (Christie) to wave around to the New Hampshire voters."

Weinberg also criticized the report for saying that while statutory requirements for handgun requirements should be made uniform across New Jersey, it didn't offer any criteria or methodology for doing so.

Christie signed the executive order creating the commission in June, just before launching his presidential campaign.

Justifiable need

Perhaps the most significant recommendation by the commission would be a specific legal definition for "justifiable need."

The commission said justifiable need should be defined as “the urgent necessity for self-protection, as evidenced by serious threats, specific threats, or previous attacks which demonstrate a special danger to the applicant’s life that cannot be reasonable avoided by means other than by issuance of the permit to carry a handgun.”

"This pandering does not fool us - we know that carry will continue to be relegated to the same friends and family of law enforcement, the legislature, and judges - statistically to less than 0.02% of the state population which includes retired police officers," the Second Amendment Society wrote.

The Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, however, said the state is constrained by existing law and court opinions, "and cannot simply ignore the other branches of government and rewrite the standard."

It quoted its legal affairs chairman Evan Nappen: "The governor's action would improve justifiable need by allowing the demonstration of urgent necessity to be met by 'serious threats', as opposed to just 'specific threats and previous attacks.' It further adds a standard of reasonableness to the requirement that the threat cannot be avoided by means other than carrying a handgun.

"It opens the door to many qualified individuals getting a carry permit who otherwise would be denied."

The Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs did stress, however, its review of the report is continuing.

Transporting weapons 

The commission said New Jersey should provide clearer guidance regarding laws around transporting firearms through the state.

Earlier this year, Christie pardoned Pennsylvania mother and gun owner Shaneen Allen, who had been carrying a gun she legally owned in her home state when stopped for a traffic offense in New Jersey. New Jersey requires weapons be stored unloaded and locked in the trunk — which Pennsylvania does not — and Allen was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm. She was jailed for 40 days before making bail.

New Jersey law also requires gun owners go directly from point to point when transporting firearms, except to make "reasonably necessary" deviations — but the report found there's no guidance as to how that term should be interpreted.

The report recommends the state Attorney General provide a directive to better define that term, and suggested “such examples as picking up and dropping off passengers, purchasing food, fuel, medicine and other supplies, using a restroom, or contending with an emergency situation.”

“Our citizens have the right to exercise their constitutional right to bear arms," Christie said in announcing his support for the recomendations. New Jersey citizens should be permitted to defend themselves and not encounter unlawful delays and impediments."

Uniform criteria for gun permits 

The commission considered reports of lengthy delays in the gun permit process.

Christie's own statement referenced Berlin resident Carol Bowne — a woman killed in her driveway by an ex-boyfriend against whom she had a domestic violence protective order. Her permit application for a handgun should have been processed weeks earlier under state law, and just two days before her death, she'd reportedly checked in to see where it stood.

"The terrible tragedy involving Berlin resident Carol Bowne this past summer, and far too many instances of gun owners facing severe criminal penalties when they have no intent to violate the law, compelled the need to take a fresh look at whether our laws and rules around gun ownership are working. I thank the Study Commission for taking on this charge,” Christie said.

According to the commission, "the statutory requirements for obtaining firearm purchaser identification cards, handgun purchase permits and handgun carry permits are being applied unevenly across New Jersey townships."

"Unnecessary delays in processing applications and the imposition of unauthorized requirements in the application process violate the law and introduce arbitrariness to the exercise of a fundamental right," it wrote.

The commission would have the state Attorney General issue a directive to identify a uniform set of criteria, and would have the State Police formally adopt a proposal to speed permits for people protected by restraining orders.

 

More From New Jersey 101.5 FM