Legislative Update: New Jersey

The following is a video transcript.

New Jersey gun owners are facing a serious threat, particularly concerning a new bill that has been signed into law by Governor Murphy (Assembly Bill No. 2761). That bill concerns so-called “large capacity magazines.”

Any magazine over ten rounds, meaning any magazine that holds 11 rounds or more, will become a felony-level offense to possess after December 10th. There is no grandfathering whatsoever for individuals. The felony-level conviction here exposes an individual to up to 18 months in state prison. Not only that, you become a convicted felon under federal law (the equivalent of), and lose your gun rights for the entire United States.

Three things that a law-abiding citizen can do:

  1. Give your magazine to a party or person that is allowed to have them. Primarily, they’re talking about turning the magazine over to a firearms dealer. But, it also means you could send them or ship them to individuals in other states—particularly states that respect the Second Amendment, unlike New Jersey—places where the magazines are not prohibited, in terms of anything over ten rounds;
  2. You are allowed to voluntarily surrender your magazine to the police. It’s not simply a matter of going to the police and saying, “Here are my magazines.” Voluntary surrender is very specific. You have to give written notice in advance of the date, time, and place, etc.; or
  3. The third option out there for a law-abiding gun owner is to permanently block your magazine. That means it cannot be temporary. Permanently blocking has not been defined specifically, but essentially, it means not readily restorable. I believe we’re looking at involving epoxy, glue, welding, or riveting—something that is going to require tools and time. It has to be permanent. There are gun dealers that are offering to professionally block magazines, which isn’t a bad idea. If you use a dealer’s services for that, make sure you get a piece of paper or receipt that says you paid and that states specifically what they did for your magazine, because that will be further proof of your compliance.

Other dealers are rendering where you can turn in your magazine to them and they will give you a credit. The best option of all is to get factory ten-round magazines, where there will be no dispute that it is strictly a ten-round magazine.

The bottom line is this: you need to take action before December 10th. If you don’t, you’re going to possess contraband, and if you’re caught, you’re going to face serious consequences. So make sure you do something before that date.

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