Bill > A248

Introduced Session

This bill disqualifies a person named on the consolidated Terrorist Watchlist maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Terrorist Screening Center from being issued either a firearm's identification card or a permit to purchase a handgun. Under the bill, the chief of police or the Superintendent of State Police is required to inform an applicant when he or she is denied an identification card or permit based on being named on the Terrorist Watchlist. An applicant who challenges such a denial in Superior Court is authorized to present evidence during the hearing that the person is not the same person named on the Terrorist Watchlist. The chief of police or superintendant must establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the applicant is the same person named on the Terrorist Watchlist. Under current law, the issuance of a firearms identification card or a permit to purchase a handgun may be denied to any person if it "would not be in the interest of the public health, safety or welfare." While this provision should provide grounds for denying a person named on the Terrorist Watchlist from being issued either a firearms identification card or a permit to purchase a handgun, the inclusion of a person on the Terrorist Watchlist is of such a serious and potentially threatening nature that it warrants a separate statutory provision denying that person's capability to lawfully obtain a firearm in this State.

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Sean Kean (R)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee (on 01/09/2018)