NJ lets you carry a gun — so why not a knife or Taser? New lawsuit takes aim

🔪 New Jersey restricts possession of some knives, brass knuckles, slingshots and other weapons without an explainable lawful purpose.

⚡ Adults can legally possess stun guns, while state law also allows limited amounts of chemical spray for personal self-defense.

⚖️ A new federal lawsuit argues New Jersey cannot constitutionally prevent people from carrying common non-firearm weapons for self-defense.

Gun rights advocates are taking another swing at New Jersey's tough weapons laws — and this time, the fight isn't primarily about guns.

The Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs, Knife Rights and four New Jersey residents have filed a federal lawsuit challenging state restrictions involving knives, stun guns, slingshots, brass knuckles, sprays and other objects that can be considered weapons.

Their argument is fairly straightforward: If the Second Amendment protects the right to possess and carry firearms for self-defense, why wouldn't it also protect less-lethal or non-firearm weapons commonly used for protection?

“The Second Amendment protects all common arms not just guns,” attorney Daniel Schmutter argues in the complaint.

The state sees it differently. A spokesman for Attorney General Jen Davenport told the New Jersey Monitor that New Jersey will defend its weapons restrictions, saying they help keep residents safe.

What weapons can you legally carry in New Jersey?

This is where things get complicated.

New Jersey law defines a “weapon” broadly as something readily capable of lethal use or inflicting serious bodily injury. That can include objects that have perfectly ordinary uses depending on why, where and how they're being carried.

Under current law:

🔴 Knives: Ordinary knives aren't universally prohibited. But gravity knives, switchblades, daggers, dirks, stilettos, ballistic knives and certain other weapons can trigger a fourth-degree criminal charge when possessed without an “explainable lawful purpose.”
🔴 Brass knuckles: Metal knuckles are specifically listed among weapons subject to that same lawful-purpose restriction.
🔴 Slingshots: They are also specifically listed in the statute and remain subject to the lawful-purpose requirement.
🔴 Stun guns/Tasers: New Jersey abandoned its blanket stun-gun prohibition following federal litigation. Adults generally may possess them, but possession and sales to people under 18 remain prohibited, and other weapons laws governing unlawful possession or use still apply.
🔴 Pepper spray: A person 18 or older who has not been convicted of a felony may possess one pocket-sized device containing no more than three-quarters of an ounce of qualifying chemical substance for personal self-defense.
🔴 Larger sprays/bear spray: They do not fall under that specific three-quarter-ounce self-defense exemption and can raise separate weapons-law issues depending on the circumstances of possession and use.

Self-defense doesn't automatically make possession legal

That distinction is at the heart of the new lawsuit.

New Jersey law generally permits a person to use force when he or she reasonably believes it is immediately necessary to protect against unlawful force. Similar protections exist when someone reasonably intervenes to protect another person.

But that doesn't necessarily mean you can carry any weapon around because you might need it someday.

In State v. Kelly, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that anticipatory self-defense generally does not excuse otherwise unlawful possession of a weapon. The court distinguished between spontaneously grabbing a weapon to meet an immediate threat and arming yourself beforehand in anticipation of possible danger.

In the 2017 case State v. Montalvo, the state Supreme Court ruled that a man had a constitutional right to possess a machete in his home for the defense of himself and his pregnant wife. The court said the right to possess a weapon at home for self-defense would mean little if someone had to wait for an attack before picking it up.

A new front in New Jersey's weapons fight

The federal lawsuit now asks whether that protection extends further outside the home.

The plaintiffs are relying heavily on the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 Bruen decision, which strengthened protections for carrying firearms outside the home and required modern weapons restrictions to be consistent with the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation.

Their contention is that “arms” protected by the Second Amendment aren't limited to firearms.

New Jersey will now have to convince a federal court that its restrictions on these other weapons can survive that constitutional test.

That could determine whether New Jersey residents who want something other than a gun for personal protection have a constitutional right to carry it.

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