By S.P. Sullivan
ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com,
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Gov. Phil Murphy is proposing to significantly hike fees for buying and selling firearms in New Jersey, a move that would raise the cost of gun permits and licenses for the first time in half a century and likely trigger a legal challenge from Second Amendment advocates.
Murphy, a Democrat who has already signed half a dozen gun control bills in his first few months in office, has publicly called for raising such fees.
"It's hard to believe it's actually cheaper to get a permit to purchase a handgun, which is $2, than it is to get a dog license in practically any town in our state," Murphy said at a June 13 bill signing.
Draft legislation obtained by NJ Advance Media shows Murphy wants to raise fees and licenses far beyond the rate of inflation. The proposal, which Murphy's office shared with legislative leaders as part of the budget process, has not been formally introduced in the state Legislature.
But the governor's public budget plan anticipates $1.4 million in additional revenue from the sale of firearms, and gun control activists continued to press the matter Thursday after learning the plan had not been picked up by Democratic leaders in the state Assembly and Senate.
New Jersey's already strict gun control laws just got even tougher.
Murphy and members of his own party in the Legislature have been wrangling over competing budget proposals ahead of a June 30 deadline.
"The state has not raised these fees for 52 years while every other cost in the world has gone up significantly," said Bryan Miller, executive director of the group Heeding God's Call to End Gun Violence. "The governor's budget has these fees in it. The legislative leadership budget does not. Somehow, I don't think that's an accident."
A spokesman for Senate Democratic leaders declined to comment.
The plan would raise the cost for handgun purchase permits from $2 to $50; firearms identification cards from $5 to $100; handgun carry permits from $50 to $400; retail gun dealer licenses from $50 to $500; and wholesaler/manufacturer licenses from $150 to $1,500, among other hikes.
Scott Bach, the director of the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, said the move was "intended to punish law-abiding gun owners for the acts of criminals and madmen and discourage the exercise of Second Amendment rights."
"It also had the unintended consequence of denying that basic civil right to lower-income populations," he said.
In some cases, the move would nearly double the cost of purchasing a firearm, some of which retail for less than $200.
Bach, whose group has already filed suit targeting one of Murphy's new gun laws. -- a cap on magazine size -- in federal court, said the proposed fee hikes "won't survive a court challenge."
Firearm permit prices vary significantly from state to state. For example, Murphy's proposal would bring New Jersey in line with the $100 it costs to get a firearm ID card in Massachusetts, which like the Garden State tightly regulates firearms.
The plan would make the state's carry permit 20 times the cost of the $20 charged by Pennsylvania, which has among the loosest gun laws in the northeast.
