New Jersey suffered a setback when the U.S. District Court recently enjoined numerous provisions of the state’s concealed-firearms statute. Judge Renee Marie Bumb did so under her reading of New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision invalidating New York’s prior version of concealed-carry legislation. Bruen instructs that for firearms restrictions to pass constitutional muster, the government must “justify its regulation by demonstrating that it is consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition.” Time will tell whether any jurisdiction will have better luck than New Jersey or New York in satisfying that test when it comes to concealed firearms in the modern era.
But we write not to debate the merits of Bruen or the Supreme Court’s underlying interpretation of the Second Amendment (although we have serious reservations about both). Instead, we wish to register our respectful objection to the reaction of the governor’s office to Judge Bumb’s decision, as reported by nj.com. In criticizing the court’s ruling, Gov. Murphy’s spokesperson said, “We are disappointed that a right-wing federal judge, without any serious justification, has chosen to invalidate common sense restrictions around the right to carry a firearm in certain public spaces.”
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