NJ lawmaker: Make it easier for all — not just politicians — to carry guns

State Sen. Gerald Cardinale, who took heat for proposing a law that would make it easier for elected officials and judges to carry guns, now is proposing a new bill that would make it easier for all residents to get a permit to carry a weapon.

Cardinale's earlier proposal would exempt legislators and judges at the superior and municipal court levels from having to prove "justifiable need" in order to obtain permits to carry a handgun. Cardinale's new bill would extend that exemption to all eligible residents.

“In light of the public reaction, I am having companion legislation drafted to S-1982 that will allow anyone who passes a background check, similar to that for superior court judges, to likewise bypass the overreaching court-imposed, un-American ‘justifiable need’ provision of our present law."

Justifiable need is the provision in New Jersey's gun laws that makes applicants explain why they want to carry a weapon, mostly because of previous threats. This provision is also the reason most applicants to carry in New Jersey are rejected because they cannot meet the threshold.

Cardinale fully expects opposition to his proposal from "gun control extremists" and urged those in favor of his bill to be as "vocal to their own legislators as they have been to me."