The bill’s guidelines would require people who want to carry guns in public to purchase liability insurance, among other measures.
New Jersey lawmakers have unveiled a gun bill that would significantly restrict when and where guns can be carried outside the home, and is touted as the “strongest” measure of gun ownership in America.
The bill’s guidelines would require people who want to carry guns in public to purchase liability insurance, and would ban carrying guns in 25 broad categories, including government buildings, health centers, airports, private property where their owners have not given permission to carry weapons and casinos.
For his part, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat, promised he would sign the measure, which follows a US Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that effectively expanded the scope of who can carry guns. in public, Politico reported.
“The governor’s primary goal was to ensure that residents and visitors to our state could trust their safety in sensitive locations such as day care centers, hospitals, states and public transportation,” said Alyana Alfaro-Post, a spokeswoman for Governor Murphy in a statement.
“The administration has worked closely with the legislature to draft the legislation in recent months, and the governor hopes to sign this bill into law after it moves through the legislative process,” Alfaro-Post added.
The bill is currently on the legislative fast track. Craig Coughlin, Speaker of the New Jersey Assembly, said the bill would be heard in committee on Monday and voted on in the House on Oct. 27.
Legislators indicated that the bill is in response to the Supreme Court decision that annulled the concealed carry law in New York on June 23, and that it was in force for more than a century.
The law required gun owners to show that they have a “special need,” or good cause, to carry a concealed weapon in public in self-defense. New York courts ruled that simply wanting to protect yourself without showing “adequate cause” was not enough to get a license.