Safeguarding your rights requires eternal vigilance, and perhaps nothing demonstrates this better than the incessant backdoor attacks on Second Amendment rights in New Jersey.
New Jersey legislators recently moved forward a bill that could threaten outdoor shooting ranges by weaponizing zoning laws.
On December 4, the Senate Law & Public Safety Committee advanced S. 4360 through a 3-2, party-line vote. The bill includes this statement: “This bill requires a municipality in which an outdoor firing range is located to adopt a zoning ordinance establishing safety guidelines for outdoor firing ranges.”
Both the NRA and its official state association, the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs, opposed the bill and offered testimony against it. In their communication on the subject, ANJRPC also noted, “The bill was added to the committee agenda at the last minute late yesterday, in a sneak attack apparently intended to circumvent opposition to the bill.”
The language of the bill transfers a significant amount of oversight and authority to towns that could obviously be used to introduce limiting factors. One such example:
In addition, the municipality may establish requirements that are consistent with current law regarding the caliber and gauge of ammunition that may be used on the grounds of the outdoor firing range.
It’s not difficult to imagine a scenario where a municipality that is hostile to Second Amendment activities might use the broad language of such a bill to impose restrictions on a shooting range that either make it financially unsustainable or so severely limited in capabilities that sportsmen prefer not to use it.
We covered a similar story in neighboring state Pennsylvania where a hostile town, Lower Merion, used zoning ordinances as a form of lawfare to disenfranchise a legitimate FFL business.
We will continue to track the progress of this bill.
