Gun carry permit requests soared in New Jersey after U.S. Supreme Court upended firearm laws

Applications for permits to carry a handgun in New Jersey skyrocketed after a U.S. Supreme Court decision upending the state’s strict firearm laws made it easier to secure those permits, according to a new database released by the Attorney General’s Office.

In the 20 months after the court’s landmark decision known as Bruen, about 33,000 people applied for a carry permit in New Jersey, according to the database launched Thursday.

Police departments received an average of about 1,500 applications a month from people seeking the permit —a nearly 3,000% jump from the average of 50 applications received monthly prior to the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision. Newark saw more permit applications than any other New Jersey town since Bruen was handed down, and the overwhelming majority of all applicants were white and male.

State Police Commissioner Col. Patrick Callahan in 2022 predicted more than 200,000 gun owners statewide would apply for carry permits in the wake of Bruen.

The new data comes as the state continues fighting a legal challenge of the sweeping gun legislation signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy in December 2022. New Jersey, which has some of the strongest firearm safety laws in the country, saw its previous strict gun restrictions toppled as a result of Bruen.

Under the new New Jersey law, firearms are prohibited at schools, polling places, beaches, bars, parks, hospitals, and a host of other spaces lawmakers deemed “sensitive.” It also raised permit prices, added a mandate for permit carriers to provide proof of liability insurance, and increased the requirements for carry permits.

Much of the law has been blocked since soon after it was enacted and immediately saw a legal challenge from pro-gun groups arguing that it runs afoul of Bruen. A federal judge blocked enforcement of it early last year, and in June, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals paused the injunction pending a full ruling from that court on the constitutionality of the law.

The new dashboard is required under a directive Attorney General Matt Platkin issued in June 2023 requiring police departments to submit gun permit data to the state to be kept in a centralized database. It includes permit data from Dec. 1, 2019, through February 2024.

“Transparency is a key component to enhancing public safety. The data available in this dashboard allows its users to gain an understanding of where in New Jersey the applications for permits to carry firearms is increasing,” Platkin said in a statement.

Scott Bach, executive director of the New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, criticized the state for keeping track of citizens he said are merely exercising their constitutional rights.

“Self-defense-hating bureaucrats are obsessed with wasting taxpayer dollars compiling statistics on law-abiding gun owners instead of actually going after violent criminals. If they spent half the time they do harassing legal gun owners on stopping violent crime, we would live in a much safer society,” he said.

Bach’s group is one of the plaintiffs challenging the state’s gun law. He said he thinks the statistics show that gun owners statewide are waiting for the resolution of that lawsuit before they apply for their permits.

Mary Kenah, policy counsel with Everytown for Gun Safety, said the jump in applications is a “stark reminder” of why New Jersey lawmakers took legislative action.

“It’s too soon to say whether this trend in increased permit applications will continue, but we’re grateful to the Attorney General for collecting and publicizing this data so that we have it for years to come,” she said in a statement.

Carry permit applications in New Jersey began spiking soon after the Bruen decision was released.

Residents of Ocean, Monmouth, and Bergen counties account for nearly a quarter of all applications filed since then. Among New Jersey municipalities, Newark tops the list with 755 applications, with Toms River in second place with 742, followed by Old Bridge (428), and Ocean Township (413). Residents outside of New Jersey applied for 1,369 permits.

Men are much more likely than women to apply for a carry permit, with about 31,000 applications from men versus about 2,100 from women. White men are the most likely to apply for a carry permit. Over 26,000 of the applicants are white, 3,800 are Black, 1,377 are Hispanic, and 766 applicants are Asian-American Pacific Islander. Most applicants are between the ages of 50 and 59.

About 250 applicants were denied, over half of them due to “public health, safety and welfare” concerns. Others were denied over criminal records, domestic violence charges, a background of alcoholism, or mental or medical issues.

State officials said the dashboard will be updated monthly.

An earlier version of this story misstated that Washington Township was one of the top towns that saw gun carry permit applications.