Federal Judge Renee Marie Bumb issued a temporary restraining order Monday on portions of New Jersey's new law barring guns in several public and private property settings.
Signed in late December, the law restricted carrying firearms in public libraries or museums, bars, or restaurants that serve alcohol and entertainment facilities. Carrying was also limited on private property where the owner did not explicitly grant permission.
Bumb, a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, insisted the rules created "considerable constitutional problems" and "essentially renders the entire state of New Jersey a 'sensitive place' where firearms are prohibited."
"The deprivation of plaintiffs' Second Amendment rights, as the holders of valid permits from the state to conceal carry handguns, constitutes irreparable injury, and neither the state nor the public has an interest in enforcing unconstitutional laws," she proclaimed.
Although those two provisions were struck down, significant overhauls to the process of obtaining a concealed carry permit and mandated liability insurance for gun carriers are still in place.
Alan M. Gottlieb, head of the Second Amendment Foundation, told Politico his group, the New Jersey Second Amendment Society, the Firearms Policy Coalition, and others in the suit targeted parts of the law they believed were easiest to overturn.
"We chose wisely in what we were challenging so we could quickly get a temporary restraining order," Gottlieb noted. "So instead of challenging the whole law in New Jersey, we challenged the most egregious parts ... because we wanted to win, and we wanted to win it fast."
New Jersey Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy's office confirmed it was working closely with Attorney General Matt Platkin to "correct this errant decision," the New Jersey Monitor reported.
"While we are pleased that most of our concealed carry law remains in effect, 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," Murphy spokesman Tyler Jones said of Bumb, an appointment of former President George W. Bush in 2006.
It comes after Democrat lawmakers rammed through the controversial Bill S3085 in response to the Supreme Court overturning New York's "justifiable cause" mandate to obtain a concealed carry permit.
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