New Jersey is just dominating the pages of Bearing Arms this last week. One thing we can all agree on is that the Garden State’s public masters have still not come to terms with the NYSRPA v. Bruen decision. This is of course not exclusive to the Land of 1000 Diners, but also includes New York, California, Hawaii, Maryland, and – I’m calling it now – Massachusetts. The frenzy of so-called “Bruen response laws” have been dominating courtrooms, as they’re getting challenged left and right, while the progressive pinkos recoil at the thought that just a little bit of liberty may reach some of the unwashed masses. In the wake of NYSRPA v. Bruen, New Jersey’s Attorney General Matthew Platkin seemed to be ready to accept the new reality, by dropping the state’s “justifiable need” standard. However, we quickly learned that New Jersey was not going to have any of this freedom for the peons. Platkin recently sent out a directive aimed at getting data on permit to carry holders, and reading between the lines, we’ll get exactly what we’d expect.

Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin today issued two firearms-related directives to law enforcement. The first is a directive aimed at collecting anonymous information on processed permit to carry handgun applications in order to guide data-driven policymaking and resource allocation, as well as publicly provide information that is in the public’s interest, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s year-old decision expanding the right to carry a firearm in public.

We can already see that the swampy tentacles of Governor Phil Murphy are titillating his lap dog, Platkin, by pushing this agenda. “If you do what you’re told for Daddy, you will be rewarded,” can be silently heard in the undertone of this order, with the Murph’s hand patting Platkin on the head. Platkin noting that the information is vital “to guide data-driven policy making and resource allocation,” only further illustrates that the Governmental bodies of the Garden State either do not understand the text of NYSRPA v. Bruen, or they’re still content to be ignoring it – still in that river denial. 

The policy making that needs to be done concerning the possession, ownership, and carry of firearms has to be driven by what’s analogous from the time of our founding. Period. While I understand calling an “all stop” right here should be appropriate, we all know that’s not the case in stubborn freedom limiting states like New Jersey, and we must still “justify” ourselves, even though there’s an affirmative defense.

Under Directive 2023-02, all law enforcement agencies responsible for processing applications for permits to carry handguns will be required to report anonymized data on completed applications to the Attorney General’s Office, dating back three years, to December 2019, and continuing indefinitely. The reporting will occur every month to ensure the data being analyzed is current and complete. In the interim, the New Jersey State Police (NJSP) will create a centralized web portal for the issuance of permits to carry handguns. Once that portal is implemented, the interim reporting requirement for local law enforcement will sunset and the NJSP will provide the anonymized data to the Attorney General’s Office. The directive also requires reporting of anonymized data related to firearms identification cards and permits to purchase firearms. Such reporting will be prospective and occur monthly.

This is more burdens being placed on local jurisdictions for the Attorney General’s entertainment – and really, it’s for the Governor’s. Platkin, while entrenched in the swamp, he’s still young enough to spray the unconstitutional sludge off of himself and “figure it out,” and this goes without saying, I have a standing invite to the Platikn to have a coffee and or cigar if he chooses to chat about these issues, there’s hope to keep him from becoming a complete creature. I understand that he’s just a pawn in this process.

From the order itself:

On December 22, 2022, Governor Phil Murphy signed L. 2022, c. 131, providing, among various other parameters for ensuring the safety of New Jerseyans, clear procedures for reviewing applications for permits to carry handguns, and the ability to implement a web portal operated by the New Jersey State Police to electronically process applications for permits to carry.

At present, all firearm purchase identification cards and permits to purchase a handgun are maintained within the Firearms Application & Registration System (FARS) operated by the New Jersey State Police (NJSP). To ensure consistency with permits to carry handguns, NJSP will create and implement a centralized web portal for the issuance of permits to carry handguns, as well as collecting relevant data related to same.

The silver lining to Platkin’s order is that there’s an admission that the state will be taking over a good amount of the permit to carry process, id.est., going electronic, thus cutting out a lot of the inconsistencies between departments – which are many; such as police chiefs trying to put restrictions on permits that they don’t have the statutory powers to do, including limitations on what firearms an individual may carry. So, some of this news is welcomed and a good thing, while the rest, eh, we know what “Stuart Plattykins” is after.

Collecting and analyzing data of this magnitude will assist in creating data-driven policy to enhance public safety across the state, as well as informing efficiency in administration and resource allocation pertaining to processing applications for permits to carry handguns. And importantly, it provides the Attorney General’s Office the opportunity to present the anonymized information in a dynamic, forward facing, and transparent way to assist the public in understanding the impact of the N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Assoc. v. Bruen decision, as well as the new gun laws enacted by Governor Phil Murphy following the disheartening decision, which set commonsense safeguards to protect our communities against senseless acts of gun violence.

“Law enforcement is now the ultimate decision maker in approving or denying applications for permits to carry handguns, and we must be aware of the impact,” said Attorney General Platkin. “By implementing these reporting procedures, we will gain better insight into the effect of a higher prevalence of handguns being carried in New Jersey due to the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision, and be able to implement public safety policy that is data-informed.”

Again, we need to appreciate that Platkin needs to give it a rest. He can imagine all the policy he wishes, but most of them are going to fall short on the list of being constitutional. The pictures they’ll try to create will be dramatic, but as fertile as an eunuch. More insulting though is insinuating that law-abiding permt to carry holders somehow obstruct the state’s ability to “protect our communities against senseless acts of gun violence.” The people need protection from senseless acts of tyrannical policies and so-called “leaders.”

This order, aside from announcing the administrative change of some things to come, is nothing more than posturing. Somehow the state is going to make the argument about how bad it is that law-abiding citizens are carrying firearms. Even if that were the case, which statistically it’s not, the orders from the Supreme Court have been cast, and now it’s just a matter of obeying. While I welcome an electronic process to apply to get a permit to carry in New Jersey, I certainly find it objectionable that the Attorney General thinks he’s going to be able to manipulate the data to say permit to carry holders are the bad guys, as I suspect he’ll do. Trying to make such claims is insulting, especially when they’ve fostered a revolving door justice system in New Jersey, one which favors the criminal over the law-abiding.