By Ron Benvenisti. Two New Jersey politicians, Republican and Democrat, want elected officials in New Jersey to be able to carry a gun.

Sen. Ed Durr (R-Gloucester) proposed a bill that would ease New Jersey’s strict firearms law so that elected officials would be allowed to carry handguns if they demonstrate at least eight hours of safety training.

This bill provides that an elected official of this State will be issued permits to carry handguns under certain circumstances.

Under current law, in order to be granted a permit to carry a handgun, an applicant is required to demonstrate “justifiable need.”

Justifiable need is defined in State regulations, at N.J.A.C.13:54-2.4, as, “the urgent necessity for self-protection, as evidenced by specific threats or previous attacks which demonstrate a special danger to the applicant’s life that cannot be avoided by means other than by issuance of a permit to carry a handgun.”

This bill exempts elected officials from the “justifiable need” requirement. Under the bill’s provisions, the permit to carry will be issued as long as the applicant is not subject to any disabilities set forth in current law and presents evidence of successful completion of at least eight hours of firearm safety training.

Under the bill, acceptable evidence of training includes:

(1)   documentation of law enforcement or military service;

(2)   a certificate indicating satisfactory completion of a National Rifle Association firearms course;

(3)   a certificate that the applicant is a certified National Rifle Association Firearms Instructor;

(4)   a New Jersey hunting license or New Jersey Hunter’s Education Course card;

(5)   a copy of a firearms or hunting license or permit from any other jurisdiction that requires the holder to successfully complete a substantially equivalent firearms safety class or course; or

(6)   any other documentation, certificate, or certification deemed substantially equivalent by the superintendent.

The bill defines “elected official” to mean any person holding the office of United States Senator or member of the United States House of Representatives elected from this State, or any person holding a State or local government office which, under the State Constitution or by law, is filled by the registered voters of a jurisdiction at an election, including a person appointed, selected, or otherwise designated to fill a vacancy in such office.

Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald (D-Camden) is sponsoring a bill which would require that the home addresses of elected officials and candidates for office be redacted from public documents and not disclosed under the state’s public records law. This law would make harassment or “doxing” of elected officials a crime in New Jersey.

The Greenwald bill is like a 2020 law, Bill A6171 AcaSca (2R), sponsored by Majority Conference Leader Annette Quijano that creates the Office of Information Privacy, which requires, upon request, redaction, and nondisclosure of home address of judicial officers, prosecutors, law enforcement officers, and immediate family members thereof residing in same household.