The bill would deny guns to anyone in New Jersey who is named on the federal terrorism watch list. The opponents say they're not confident in the list.
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Erik Peterson
Erik Peterson remembers driving his wife’s car and getting pulled over.
Police driving behind the New Jersey assemblyman ran the license plate and found out the car belonged to Jenny Peterson. The legislator’s wife didn’t have warrants out on her, but someone with the same name did.
The legislator proved that he wasn’t Jenny Peterson and his wife wasn't the woman police were looking for, and the police let him go.
The Republican, whose 23rd Legislative District covers parts of Warren and Hunterdon counties, used that anecdote to help explain why he wouldn't back a gun-control measure voted on Wednesday in Trenton. The bill passed an Assembly panel anyway and would block suspected terrorists from owning guns in New Jersey.
He said the bill doesn’t provide enough opportunities for a person misidentified as a terrorist to clear his or her name and legally get a gun. He said it would be like automatically going to jail if someone with your name has warrants.
“Under this bill, Jenny Peterson gets pulled over and she goes to jail, period. Even if you can prove you’re not Jenny Peterson, you’re guilty,” Peterson told The Express-Times.
He and the two other New Jersey legislators who didn’t back the measure explained their thinking Thursday.
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Alison Littell McHose
Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose and Assemblyman Sean Kean, both Republicans, voted against the bill Wednesday when it came before the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee. Peterson abstained. Seven Democrats moved the bill to the full Assembly in a 7-2 vote.
Peterson, McHose and Kean each expressed low confidence in the accuracy of the secret watch list and concerns that innocent people could be denied constitutional rights.
Published reports of the vote said Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, the Union County Democrat who sponsored the bill, was “flabbergasted” by the lack of Republican support for a “commonsense” measure.
But the Republicans said they're being extra careful because the bill proposes taking away civil liberties.
“My husband is in the U.S. Army and was deployed twice in the war on terror, but I have real concerns about this so-called terrorist watch list and the use of it to take away constitutionally protected rights,” McHose, whose 24th District includes parts of Warren County, said in a written statement.
Kean told The Star-Ledger that he voted the way he did because he doubted the bill would have any effect -- “What terrorist is going to apply for a firearm?” -- and was skeptical about the terror watch list: “The bottom line is, does anybody know what this list is, and who keeps this list?”
The newspaper also reported Kean had changed his mind by Thursday morning and that he plans to approve the bill when it comes to a vote on the Assembly floor.
Peterson said he would vote for the bill if it provided more opportunity for people misidentified as terrorists to clear their names.
The bill does say anyone denied a permit can request a hearing in New Jersey Superior Court.
But Peterson said he proposed a process for the New Jersey State Police superintendent to vet people who are denied permits, a provision that wasn’t included in the bill.
“I think the intent of having terrorists not being able to get a gun card is a valid one. However, we shouldn’t be depriving people of their rights,” he said.
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SLEW OF GUN-CONTROL BILLS
Assembly Bill A3687, disqualifying anyone named on a federal terrorist watch list from obtaining a firearms identification card or permit to purchase a handgun, was one of 17 gun-control bills approved Wednesday by the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee and moved to the full Assembly for votes scheduled Thursday.