Former Trucker Fighting Uphill Gun Battle in N.J. Senate: Is There Hope for New Jersey Gun Rights?

Most American gun owners are aware the New Jersey has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation. Sure, you can buy and own modified MSRs, conventional rifles, shotguns and handguns in the Garden State, but you must have a permit to purchase a handgun, as well as a firearms purchaser identification card to buy a long gun.

Add to those restrictions all manners of laws about where you can possess your firearms, how many rounds magazines can hold and a plethora of other limitations (even restrictions on hollow point ammunition), and you begin to understand the plight of law-abiding New Jersey gun owners. It’s so problematic that attorney Evan Nappen wrote a 532-page book just to explain the state’s many gun laws where citizens can actually understand them!

Now, one first-year New Jersey lawmaker is bucking the system and trying to begin dismantling many of the state’s unconstitutional restrictions. And he’s jumping in with both feet.

Republican State Sen. Ed Durr, the truck driver who unexpectedly defeated Senate President Steve Sweeny last year, recently introduced five pro-gun bills in the state assembly and is promising up to 10 more to try to roll back all the wrongs that have been done to New Jersey’s lawful gun owners. You might recall that Durr only jumped into the race because he was denied a concealed carry permit under the state’s harsh may-issue (mostly won’t-issue) system.

“With some of the most rigid gun laws in the nation, New Jersey aggressively prevents innocent residents from protecting themselves, but fails miserably when it comes to controlling illegal arms and locking up predators who commit crimes with firearms,” Durr told the Shore News Network. “These bills will help save the lies, families and constitutional rights of New Jerseyans who have been forsaken by Trenton bureaucrats committed to releasing convicts and weakening the criminal justice system.”

One of the most notable measures would eliminate the state’s magazine restriction law that forbids outlaws magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds. Others would eliminate the 30-day waiting period between handgun purchases, repeal the state’s “red-flag” law, allow honorably discharged veterans to carry handguns and allow active duty military members to carry firearms at all times.

Durr said what will eventually be a 15-bill package is much needed given the current restrictions New Jersey gun owners live under.

“These measures, and the 10 more I will be introducing, benefit residents who do not defy the laws of the state,” Durr further told Shore News. “I’m standing up for the right of self-protection. It is time for Trenton to stop penalizing upstanding citizens for the irresponsible, life-threatening actions of criminals.”

Of course, with the Democrats having a near stranglehold on the New Jersey Legislature, there’s small chance that most, if any, of the measures will pass. Still, as Durr says, you can’t pass any new laws if you don’t try.

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“We know there’s a slim chance in hell of them passing, but I’ve always subscribed to the belief that a question not asked is going to get the same answer. So, you might as well ask,” he told the New Jersey Monitor. “Let’s put it this way—last year, everybody was saying there was no shot in hell for Ed Durr to be a senator. So, I will never say never to nothing.”

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Freelance writer and editor Mark Chesnut is the owner/editorial director at Red Setter Communications LLC. An avid hunter, shooter and political observer, he has been covering Second Amendment issues and politics on a near-daily basis for the past 20 years.