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A federal lawsuit seeks to compel New jersey to recognize judicial orders from other states allowing their residents to carry concealed weapons.

The suit was filed by Delaware and Georgia residents who say they avoid visiting New Jersey out of fear of prosecution and incarceration for carrying a concealed firearm. New Jersey law does not recognize permits issued by other states to carry firearms, the suit says. No exemption is afforded to out-of-state travelers who possess a handgun in a hotel or other overnight accommodation.

New Jersey is obligated under the U.S. Constitution's Full Faith and Credit Clause to honor the out-of-state court orders allowing plaintiffs to carry guns, the suit claims. But New Jersey is one of a handful of states that does not honor concealed carry permits from other states.

The Full Faith and Credit Clause concerns state's obligations to respect the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of other states. Exceptions and limitations have been recognized, including a public policy exception.

Eatontown attorney Evan Nappen represents plaintiffs Charles McDowell of Georgia and Thomas Muller of Delaware. He said those states, like New Jersey, grant permits to carry concealed weapons through judicial orders.

"It's an act by the court of judicial consequence. Judges are not simply bureaucratic administrators—these are judicial acts," said Nappen.

The lawsuit seeks a declaration that the court orders from Delaware and Georgia should have the same effect as a permit to carry issued by New Jersey. The suit also seeks an injunction against the prosecution or arrest of people who have a permit issued by another state.

McDowell was granted a license to carry a weapon in 2017 by the Probate Court of Houston County in Georgia. Muller obtained a court order in the Superior Court of New Castle County, Delaware, in 2016.

Both men regularly carry a pistol to defend themselves and their families, the suit states. They would like to visit New Jersey but have refrained from doing so because of the nature of the state's gun laws, according to the suit.

"If this is successful, this will be the first time New Jersey will be required to recognize any other state's license," Nappen said.

Nappen, asked about the public policy exception, declined to discuss how he will address that issue, but said, "I am very confident that we can wage a public policy argument that favors the Second Amendment."

Asked about District of Columbia v. Heller, the U.S. Supreme Court opinion establishing an individual right to gun ownership, in which Justice Antonin Scalia noted that courts have upheld restrictions on concealed carry since the 19th century, Nappen said that ruling was favorable to the Second Amendment. He added he is hopeful for a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. City of New York, another gun rights case that could bolster his.

The named defendants are Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, state police Superintendent Patrick Callahan and the 21 county prosecutors.

Nappen says he knows of no other litigation asking a state to recognize a license to carry that was issued by a court in another state. Congress considered a bill in 2017 that would have required states to recognize concealed carry permits issued by other states. That bill, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, passed the House by a vote of 231-198, but stalled in the Senate.

Nappen said a new version of the same bill is now pending in Congress and that his suit does not reach as far as the bill.

The plaintiffs cite the case of Shaneen Allen, a Philadelphia woman who was arrested and jailed for 48 days on a gun charge after a 2013 traffic stop in Atlantic County, as illustrative of the current law's reach. Allen, who had a permit to carry a firearm in Pennsylvania, said she wrongly assumed it applied in other states. She faced three years in prison but was admitted to a diversionary program and then pardoned by Gov. Chris Christie in 2015. Allen has since become active in a movement for reciprocal recognition of state laws governing concealed firearms.

A spokesman for the attorney general declined to comment.