Bill > A1648

Introduced Session

This bill directs the Attorney General to establish and maintain a criminal firearm recovery clearing house to be used as a central repository of information regarding all firearms seized, forfeited, found, or otherwise coming into the possession of any State or local law enforcement agency which are believed to have been used in the commission of a crime. The bill directs the Attorney General to promulgate regulations prescribing mandatory reporting procedures for State and local law enforcement agencies to follow when recovering a firearm. The bill requires the reporting procedures to include the development of a form to facilitate the reporting process, and requires the form to provide for the submission of identifying information on the firearm and a description of the circumstances under which the firearm came into possession of law enforcement. The bill directs State and local law enforcement agencies investigating the commission of a crime in which a specific firearm is known to have to have been used to request the Division of State Police to document and trace the movement of that firearm, and to provide the results of the trace to those law enforcement agencies. The bill directs the Attorney General to cooperate with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to develop and implement a strategy for the interdiction of firearms used in the commission of a crime. Under the bill, the strategy must include a means to identify firearm traffickers and suppliers of firearms who may or may not be violating federal, State, or local laws, and to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in other states in the investigation and enforcement of these laws. The bill takes effect on the first day of the sixth month after enactment, but permits the Superintendent of the State Police to take anticipatory administrative actions prior to the bill's effective date. The purpose of the clearing house is to determine the origins of firearms used in crimes committed in New Jersey, with particular focus on states from where substantial numbers of those firearms appear to originate.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Angelica Jimenez (D)*,  Vincent Mazzeo (D)*,  Raj Mukherji (D)*,  Gary Schaer (D)*,  Benjie Wimberly (D)*,  Nicholas Chiaravalloti (D),  Timothy Eustace (D),  Reed Gusciora (D),  Jamel Holley (D),  John McKeon (D), 

Reported out of Assembly Committee, 2nd Reading (on 04/04/2016)