Federal appeals court affirms retired law enforcement officers’ right to carry guns

A federal court has sided with police unions that challenged a state law restricting retired officers’ right to carry concealed firearms in New Jersey, saying federal law allows it.

In a ruling released Wednesday, a three-judge U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals panel decreed that the federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2004 trumps a state law that established more hurdles for retired police officers who want to carry guns.

“We may not ignore Congress’s unambiguous conferral of an individual right or its clear intent to preempt state law,” Judge Arianna J. Freeman wrote.

The ruling is the latest loss for policymakers who sought to tighten gun control in New Jersey after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 declared a constitutional right to carry and struck down barriers for gun owners who want to take firearms outside their homes or businesses.

Gun rights advocates have challenged a wider-ranging state law that declares “sensitive places” where people can’t take guns, and federal appellate judges haven’t yet issued a ruling in that case, which was argued in October.

In the case that prompted Wednesday’s ruling, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, the New Jersey Fraternal Order of Police, and several named retired officers sued the state attorney general and state police superintendent in May 2020, saying they didn’t need a separate license to carry a gun, as state law requires, because federal law gives them that right.

Attorneys representing the state had argued that the federal law applies only to officers who retired from federal or out-of-state agencies. The court rejected that argument.

“We conclude that the federal statute does provide certain retired officers (those who meet all the statutory requirements) with an enforceable right, and that right extends equally to officers who retired from New Jersey agencies and those who retired from federal or out-of-state agencies,” Freeman wrote.

Federal law sets seven criteria for someone to qualify as a retired officer, including length of service in a law enforcement role, separation from the law enforcement agency in good standing, mental and physical fitness to carry, and a lack of other federal disqualifiers. It also requires such officers to carry identification confirming their status as a former officer and certifying they passed firearms training within the past year.

New Jersey’s law sets stricter limits and requires retired officers to obtain a state-issued permit known as an RPO license. The law also bars retired officers older than 75 from getting a carry permit and requires training twice a year, while federal law has no age limit and requires training once annually.

Wednesday’s ruling affirms a June 2022 federal district court ruling and permanent injunction that prohibited the state from arresting or prosecuting any retired officers who had identification compliant with federal law.

Michael Symons, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, said the office was “disappointed” by the ruling, which he said “makes the public less safe by removing the State’s ability to vet retired officers to ensure they are not disqualified from carrying firearms due to mental illness, substance abuse, legal violations, or other public-safety reasons.”