TRENTON, NJ (October 17, 2022) — Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) issued the following statement in response to today’s vote on A4769, which is deliberately crafted to defy the United States Supreme Court’s decisions regarding the right to keep and bear arms.

The New Jersey Assembly Judiciary Committee advanced a measure today that creates a complicated, subjective, and expensive system of hurdles to receive a government permission slip to exercise a right. Disturbingly, it also goes much further than that, creating a farcical list of prohibitions on where and how to carry arms, creating a de facto ban on effective armed self defense—in clear defiance of the natural and enumerated rights guaranteed to the People as outlined by the Supreme Court’s decision in N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, 142 S. Ct. 2111 (2022).

This measure puts the People into a litany of legal and personal traps, where the consequences of failure to comply with obtuse and infantilizing rules include increased state violence and incarceration—putting peaceable people in government cages—and upending their otherwise peaceful lives.

The audacity of the authors and the committee to even propose such a measure reveals the unbridled conceit and disrespect for the People they serve, the Constitution, and a misunderstanding of the role of the legislature. The natural and enumerated rights of the People are simply outside the purview of The New Jersey Assembly. The right to keep and bear arms pre-exist the government itself. This right is not negotiable or subject to debate.

As we have said before—our message to the peaceable people of New Jersey, who have for years been victimized by those representing them in Trenton: FPC sees you. The elites of the state of New Jersey have abandoned you. To that end, FPC will utilize every available instrument to remedy these abominable wrongs. FPC encourages anyone who would like to participate as a plaintiff in litigation targeting this and other measures to visit 2Ahotline.com.

And to all of those who supported and passed this immoral legislation, we say simply this: “Fuck you. No.”

Individuals who would like to Join the FPC Grassroots Army and support important pro-rights lawsuits and programs can sign up at JoinFPC.org. Individuals and organizations wanting to support charitable efforts in support of the restoration of Second Amendment and other natural rights can also make a tax-deductible donation to the FPC Action Foundation. For more on FPC’s lawsuits and other pro-Second Amendment initiatives, visit FPCLegal.org and follow FPC on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube. 

About FPC

Firearms Policy Coalition (firearmspolicy.org), a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization, exists to create a world of maximal human liberty, defend constitutional rights, advance individual liberty, and restore freedom. FPC’s efforts are focused on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and adjacent issues including freedom of speech, due process, unlawful searches and seizures, separation of powers, asset forfeitures, privacy, encryption, and limited government. The FPC team are next-generation advocates working to achieve the Organization’s strategic objectives through litigation, research, scholarly publications, amicus briefing, legislative and regulatory action, grassroots activism, education, outreach, and other programs. FPC Law (FPCLaw.org) is the nation’s largest public interest legal team focused on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and the leader in the Second Amendment litigation and research space.