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MAN DENIED PERMIT TO OWN GUNS BASED ON ALLEGED DOMESTIC INCIDENTS

Responsible Gun Owner Inside

On April 22, 2015, the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey, in a precedential opinion, upheld the denial of the application for the issuance of three handgun permits and a firearms purchaser identification card to an Aberdeen man who had been involved in a number of domestic disputes with his wife but who had never been convicted of a domestic violence offense nor had a final restraining order issued against him.

The Gun Control Law, NJSA 2C:58-3(c) recognizes that the right to possess firearms is presumed, except for certain good cause. It states that:No person of good character and good repute in the community in which he lives, and who is not subject to any of the disabilities set forth in this section or other sections of this chapter, shall be denied a permit to purchase a handgun or a firearms purchaser identification card, except as hereinafter set forth. However, section (c) 5 of the law provides that handgun permits shall not be issued “[t]o any person where the issuance would not be in the interest of the public health, safety or welfare[.]” N.J.S.A. 2C:58-3(c)(5)

Besides a domestic violence complaint in 1998, the police were called to the man’s home for domestic disputes involving his wife occurring between 2003 and 2011. The trial judge did not believe the man’s downplaying of these domestic incidents, and the appellate court agreed. Thus, it was concluded that he was unfit to be issued a permit to own handguns. The case is In Re Appeal of the Denial of the Application of Z.L. and is found here: http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/opinions/a5848-12.pdf

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