New Jersey’s gun laws got tougher on July 5. It’ll be harder to get a handgun license and buy high-capacity rifles.
Nico Bocour of Giffords, the gun violence prevention group led by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, said the group applauds New Jersey for taking action against high-capacity guns.
“We have seen states take efforts to address large capacity magazines,” she said. “There are bills at the federal level that would also address large capacity magazines, sometimes they are talked about specifically in conjunction with an assault weapons ban but some other times they are not.”
She said red flag laws to identify those likely to commit gun violence are also necessary in the absence of an assault weapons ban.
The red flag law that New Jersey has had since 2019 allows the seizure of guns from someone considered dangerous.
Bocour said more states need this law.
“What New York, New Jersey, and California all have, but that most states across the country don’t yet have, is an extremist protection order or red flag law. Time and time again the shooters of some of these mass shootings have been known, they’ve been known to family or friends or to the community and even law enforcement,” she said.
Giffords said the gun laws in the Garden State are strict — second only to California’s.
Bocour, one of the group’s gun law experts, explains one of California’s differences:
“They have a 10-day waiting period for example for all firearms purchases whereas New Jersey,” she said, “has a 7-day waiting period for handgun purchases only.”