Bill Text: NJ A628 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes confidential data base to assist State Police in issuance of firearms purchaser identification cards and handgun purchase permits.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-01-12 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee [A628 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-A628-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
214th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2010 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman PAUL D. MORIARTY
District 4 (Camden and Gloucester)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes confidential data base to assist State Police in issuance of firearms purchaser identification cards and handgun purchase permits.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
An Act concerning firearms purchaser identifications cards and handgun purchase permits and supplementing chapter 58 of Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Legislature finds and declares that it is within the public interest, and a valid public purpose, to provide for the development of a comprehensive, but strictly confidential, information base designed exclusively to assist the Superintendent of State Police in determining whether or not an applicant for a firearms purchaser identification card or a handgun purchase permit is subject to the statutory disability set forth in subsection c. of N.J.S.2C:58-3 concerning confinement in a hospital, mental institution or sanitarium for a mental disorder.
2. a. The chief operating officer of each hospital, mental institution and sanitarium shall file with the Superintendent of State Police a list of the persons confined within their particular facility for a mental disorder which would disqualify that person under the provisions of subsection c. of N.J.S.2C:58-3 from being issued, or holding, a firearms purchaser identification card or a handgun purchase permit.
The report required under this subsection shall be filed in a manner and form, and at such time intervals, as the superintendent shall prescribe.
The information in the reports submitted pursuant to this subsection shall be used exclusively by the superintendent for the purposes of determining whether an applicant for a firearms purchaser identification card or a handgun purchase permit is subject to the disability set forth in subsection c. of N.J.S.2C:58-3 concerning confinement in a hospital, mental institution or sanitarium for a mental disorder.
The information contained in any report submitted pursuant to the provisions of this subsection shall be confidential and shall not be disclosed to any person who is not authorized by the superintendent to receive or review that information.
b. An applicant who is denied a firearms purchaser identification card or a handgun purchase permit as a result of information made available to the superintendent pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall be notified in writing that his application shall be reconsidered if, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (3) of subsection c. of N.J.S.2C:58-3, the applicant submits a certificate from a psychiatrist licensed in New Jersey, or such other satisfactory proof as the superintendent may require, that the applicant is no longer suffering from that particular disability in such a manner that would interfere with or handicap him in the handling of firearms.
c. Any officer or employee of any hospital, mental institution or sanitarium who submits, in good faith, a report to the superintendent in accordance with the provisions of subsection a. of this section shall have immunity from liability, civil or criminal, that might otherwise be incurred or imposed. The immunity afforded under this subsection shall extend so as to include testimony given in any judicial proceeding resulting from any such report.
d. Any officer or employee of any hospital, mental institution or sanitarium who submits, in bad faith, a report to the superintendent in accordance with the provisions of subsection a. of this section, or uses such report or information contained therein in an unauthorized manner, is guilty of a crime of the fourth degree.
3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes a confidential data base of persons who are disqualified from obtaining a firearms purchaser identification card or a handgun purchase permit because they are, or have been, confined for a mental disorder to a hospital, mental institution or sanitarium. Subsection c. of N.J.S.2C:58-3 currently prohibits the issuance of an identification card or a permit to these persons. But there is no Statewide data base available to assist the law enforcement community in carrying out this statutory responsibility.
Under the provisions of the bill, the chief operating officers of hospitals, mental institutions and sanitariums would be required to periodically submit to the Superintendent of State Police a report listing the people confined in their facilities for a mental disorder who would be disqualified from obtaining an identification card or a permit.
As specified in the bill, the information in these reports is strictly confidential and is to be utilized by the superintendent exclusively for the purposes of determining whether an identification card or permit can be issued to an applicant. To protect the officers and employees of these hospitals, mental institutions and sanitariums, the bill provides for civil and criminal immunity if the reports are provided in good faith.
Since confinement for a mental disorder is not necessarily a permanent disqualification, the bill specifies that the superintendent must inform any person denied an identification card or a permit based on a report filed pursuant to this bill that his application will be reconsidered if, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (3) of subsection c. of N.J.S.2C:58-3, the applicant submits a certificate from a psychiatrist licensed in New Jersey, or other satisfactory proof as the superintendent may require, that the applicant is no longer suffering from that particular disability in such a manner that it would interfere with or handicap him in the handling of firearms.
Finally, the bill makes it a crime of the fourth degree for an officer or employee of any hospital, mental institution or sanitarium to: 1) submit, in bad faith, a report to the superintendent in accordance with the provisions of the bill; or 2) use that report or information contained therein in an unauthorized manner. Crimes of the fourth degree are punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to 18 months, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.
