New Jersey bans hollow point bullets except at place of purchase, target shooting, hunting, at home or between these locations. Shooters can’t use hollow points, but can use rounds that do expand upon impact such as Federal Guard Dog and Glaser. Of course, this law also encourages the privileged few with a CCW license to use FMJ rounds that present greater over penetration and ricochet hazards proving the law itself — not the hollow points — endangers the public. This law bans the bullet itself, so keychains and loose bullets are potentially illegal. New Jersey Weapon law attorney Evan Nappen had a client indicted for just this reason.
BB guns and black powder arms are regulated exactly and as restrictively as modern firearms. Yes, you’re reading that correctly. For BB and muzzle loading “handguns,” this means fingerprinting, fees, wait time, registration and prohibitions on when and how the “handgun” can be possessed.
Stay out of New Jersey if you own a Remington 552 or a Marlin Model 60 made before the late 1980s because these .22 rimfire, tube-fed semi-autos are “assault weapons” because they hold more than 15 rounds (.22 short for the Remington) and unless registered before May 30, 1991, they are generally illegal to possess. One New Jersey court infamously called the Marlin “a highly dangerous offensive weapon,” and attorney Nappen wryly notes that the only difference between possession of a bag of cocaine and a 17-shot Marlin Model 60 is that he can get a reduced sentence for the coke but not for the .22LR.
Washington D.C. prohibits ammunition and components including spent shells and bullets unless you have a license for a firearm of that caliber or gauge. The D.C. District Attorney prosecutes these cases. Mark Witaschek was convicted of misdemeanor possession of lead bullets used in a muzzle loading rifle after a SWAT raid on his home. He was fined, sentenced to time served and forced into D.C.’s “Gun Offender Registry.” Emily Miller of The Washington Times noted that the DA lets liberals like David Gregory walk with his possession of a 30-round AR-15 mag, but throws the book at others. Miller summed it up perfectly: “The nation’s capital is overrun with criminals, yet the police and prosecutors continue to waste time and resources to go after law-abiding people who inadvertently cross the ridiculous firearms laws.”
A wise friend once said, “New York City is in the belly of the antigun beast.” Truer words have never been spoken. As of three years ago, the New York Police Department (NYPD) no longer allows possession of any long gun; regardless of action type or whether the magazine is detachable, having any military feature like a bayonet lug. The NYPD also mandates a five-round magazine limit for any rifle or shotgun including collectible Winchester and Marlin lever action rifles. The NYPD knows exactly what guns the law abiding own, but certainly not the criminals on the street. And it got that information through its byzantine and oppressive licensing, registration, and background check system. Remember these consequences the next time someone tells you “Universal Background Checks” are nothing to worry about.
These foolish gun laws prohibit handguns made with metal that melt above a certain temperature, typically 800 or 1,100 degrees F. The law is idiotic for multiple reasons. The two most obvious are: 1) It does not apply to polymer frame pistols, which have no meltdown problems in decades of use and which have a melting point far lower than 800 degrees; and, 2) A shooter could not even hold and fire a handgun that heated even close to a meltdown point.
The notion that arms and ammunition are only legal to own if they are deemed “particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes” is repugnant to the purposes of the Second Amendment. Two examples include the “point system” for handguns and USC 922(r) and 27 CFR 478.39 for rifle and shotgun importation. Handguns are given a numeric score based on certain features and need at least 75 points to be importable. The system was concocted as a way to distinguish non-sporting handguns from sporting or target shooting handguns. Stupidity reigns with this system since a pistol having a trigger with grooves and a grip with a thumb rest is more suitable to import than one with a smooth trigger and plain grip. Also, handguns chambered in .22LR (most popular target shooting cartridge) get fewer points than 9mm, while single-action guns get fewer than double-action guns even though SA triggers are more common in target competition. Finally, many pistols are imported with cheap plastic adjustable sights to get a high score, then changed to fixed night sights before being sold.
Long arms not deemed importable due to certain features that make them “non-sporting” can be legally reconfigured after importation into the same “banned from importation” firearm if the number of foreign made parts — from a list of 20 — used in the firearm does not exceed 10. In short, using more than 10 foreign made parts equals jail time, but substituting virtually identical U.S.-made parts does not. Also legal are long guns made from scratch in the U.S. that are in a “banned from import” configuration. This law is even more illogical because many features that 3-gun shooters use in competition must be removed before importation, then added back to make these firearms “particularly suitable” for their matches. This absurdity stems from BATF, which has refused to recognize action and practical shooting events as legitimate sports. The agency also discounts the National Matches at Camp Perry where the AR-15, with its sinister flash suppressor and bayonet lug, is the standard rifle configuration. Finally, caution with magazines is important because a rifle that is legal with a U.S.-made magazine can instantly turn felonious if an imported one is inserted.
Putting an additional vertical grip on a handgun can get you imprisoned for 10 years and a $250,000 fine. Install a bipod or an angled forward grip on the same gun and you are OK even if you grasp the pistol using those attachments. The reason lies in the definition of handgun, which is a firearm designed and made to be held with one hand. Adding an additional vertical grip makes the pistol an “Any Other Weapon” and subject to the NFA.
Making a handgun from a rifle by removing or altering the buttstock so that the whole rifle is less than 26 inches long, or shortening the barrel length below 16 inches is a violation of the NFA. However, it is legal if you start with a pistol receiver, then install a buttstock and a 16-inch or longer barrel and the resulting weapon is at least 26 inches long. This weapon can also be legally changed back to its original pistol configuration. This legal quirk is a potential landmine for buyers of used firearms. If the purchased firearm looks like a pistol, but was originally configured as a rifle, its possession is a violation of the NFA. This is especially concerning to owners of AR-15 and Thompson Center Encore/Contender pistols.
Who said gun control was only about possession? It also is done in less obvious ways like zoning laws. Ransom Township is a rural town outside Scranton, Pa., where guns and shooting on one’s land is accepted and regularly practiced, but the right only applies if you’re from Ransom — newcomers need not apply. Recently, two of Ransom Township’s supervisors and their grossly unethical solicitor passed a zoning scheme designed and intended to make a shooting range too costly and onerous to build. This jerkwater township’s new laws mandate a “6-foot non-climbable fence,” warning signs nearly 4×8 feet in size around the range and property perimeters spaced only 100 feet apart, half-mile setbacks (even for archery), and operating hours and other restrictions that make any range impractical to build.
This case takes the cake … literally. Section 210 of the Agriculture and Markets law prohibits “any food or food products packed in a container in the shape of a firearm and for consumption from any such package.” But there’s an easy way out for the “criminals” it creates: If arrest is imminent, eat the evidence.
What’s worse? An idiotic gun law, or the politician who voted for it? Though both are deserving of contempt, this article will illuminate some of the worst gun laws throughout the U.S.
I won’t address laws that gun owners should know are stupid — like microstamping and “gun-free zones” that are really victim disarmament and mass murderer opportunity zones — rather, the gun laws I will cover may be off the treaded path, but can be very consequential for those who run afoul of them. You need to know them.
Just as importantly, gun owners need to keep energized. We need to continue to back the NRA. Our window of opportunity, not seen in decades, to reverse some of the most insane gun laws may not last long. Stay involved, or later regret it!
Scroll through the gallery above and read each law for yourself.
