When the Supreme Court struck down "may issue" carry laws in 2022, anti-gun politicians in the Garden State were quick to predict that Bruen would lead to more violence. New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin denounced the decision as "bad constitutional law and even worse for public safety", while Gov. Phil Murphy gravely intoned that, "this dangerous decision will make America a less safe country."

And yet, as the number of New Jersey residents with concealed carry licenses has grown exponentially, violent crime appears to be down significantly. Assemblyman Greg Myhre, a Republican from Ocean County, says that's not a coincidence.

In a video released Wednesday, Myhre pointed to a sharp rise in concealed carry permits following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Bruen decision in 2022, which made it easier for residents to obtain permits. “Today, more than 58,000 law-abiding New Jerseyans can exercise their right to carry a firearm. And while some warned this would turn our streets into the Wild West, the reality has been far different,” Myhre said.

New Jersey reported 778 gun violence victims in 2024, a 16% decline from 924 the previous year, marking a 15-year low, according to the governor’s office. Gun-related fatalities also dropped 20% to 152 last year. Meanwhile, the number of concealed carry permit applications surged by more than 8,000% since the Bruen ruling, with over 57,000 permits approved post-decision.

News reports from March 2024 indicated about 34,000 active carry permits in the state. If another 24,000 residents have obtained their carry permit since then, that's a pretty good sign that the appetite for concealed carry hasn't subsided at all since the Bruen decision came down in mid-2022. 

New Jersey still requires gun owners to navigate a maze of red tape in order to receive a permit, and several components of the licensing regime are part of a federal lawsuit that's been stuck in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals for more than a year. Among other complaints, gun owners have argued that the state's $200 application fee is excessive, and the requirement that applicants submit the names of four "reputable" people who can attest to the character of the would-be permitholder, "conditions the exercise of a constitutional right on the subjective views of both fellow citizens and state permitting authorities."

The state also prohibits those who have obtained a carry permit from bearing arms in a host of publicly-accessible places, including (to name just a few) parks, playgrounds, libraries, museums, medical facilities, and establishments where alcohol is served. 

Despite those barriers to entry and limits on where the right to carry can be exercised, concealed carry has proven to be pretty popular among Garden State residents, and there's no sign whatsoever that more folks lawfully carrying guns has made the state a more dangerous place. Instead, as Myrhe points out, the reported rates of "gun violence" have declined substantially. Concealed carry permit holders aren't committing crimes, and the appear to be preventing them as well; either directly through defensive gun uses or indirectly, as criminals now take into consideration the possibility that their intended victim will be willing and able to fight back. 

We still have a long way to go before the right to keep and bear arms is secured in New Jersey, but it's abundantly clear that lawful gun owners aren't the problem Platkin and Murphy predicted they would be. In fact, the Garden State is a safer place than it was in the "may issue" days where hardly anyone in New Jersey could legally bear arms in self-defense.