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“The right to carry is here, and it’s here to stay, and everybody’s got to get used to that,” Bach told the outlet. “This angry fist-shaking by various states like New York and New Jersey is going to blow up in their faces. They can pretend that Bruen doesn’t say what it says, but it’s only going to come back to bite them.”

New York court rulings against gun law may signal trouble for similar New Jersey bill

A gun restriction bill backed by top Democrats in New Jersey is already facing legal threats after the Supreme Court affirmed a constitutional right to carry and sparked challenges to New York ‘s similar gun law.

Assemblyman Joe Danielsen, the New Jersey bill’s main sponsor, is pushing the legislation to prohibit licensed gun owners from bringing firearms into nearly 25 “sensitive places” while imposing stiff barriers for people seeking gun licenses. The bill made it out of committee via a party-line vote this week and has the backing of Gov. Phil Murphy , who has vowed to sign it into law.

If enacted, the legislation could be a tough road ahead in light of two federal court rulings in New York that held the Empire State’s new gun law fails the test established in the summer high court ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen .

Just last week, a federal judge placed a temporary restraining order on a provision of a New York gun law that made it a felony for a person with a concealed carry gun license to bring a firearm into churches or other houses of worship. That ruling came just weeks after a separate lower court ruled that much of New York’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act , signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul , failed the Bruen test. Since then, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals court has restored much of the act while a three-judge panel decides on a motion to stay the lower court decision.

New Jersey’s Bill A4769 features many similar components that have been subject to judicial scrutiny in light of the 6-3 high court opinion authored by Justice Clarence Thomas .

While justices agreed that states can prohibit guns in sensitive places, it did not define these places aside from naming government buildings such as courthouses, polling places, and schools. Additionally, Thomas held that a place cannot be deemed sensitive just because it is crowded.

The Garden State bill does not designate houses of worship as a sensitive place, but it does deem private property a sensitive place without the owner’s consent, a point of contention among Republican state legislators against the bill.

Republican Assemblyman Brian Bergen pushed back on Danielson’s bill last week in an exchange in which he asked whether a gun owner who steps off the sidewalk and takes a shortcut through a gas station parking lot could be sentenced to prison.

“You can carry everywhere that isn’t restricted in the bill,” Danielsen replied, according to NJ.com.

Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at South Texas College of Law, told the Washington Examiner he thinks “the states will resist Bruen as much as they can,” citing both the Garden and Empire State’s decisions to push new gun legislation that has been met or threatened with court challenges.

“And even if they lose in courts in a couple years, they won’t care because it will be worth it for the fight. They’ll fight it, and then they’ll lose in a couple years. They’re willing to resist as much as they can,” Blackman said.

Another proposed requirement for the New Jersey measure asks that gun license applicants carry $300,000 in liability insurance. The nonpartisan state Office of Legislative Services issued an opinion saying this portion of the bill could be constitutionally questionable, and Republican state Rep. Robert Auth told the Washington Examiner it was a “fool’s errand.”

“It’s going to be found unconstitutional. It really disenfranchises the folks in the inner cities or low-income families because it’s an extra burden. It’s an onerous burden put upon them to make it more difficult to get access for a firearm for their personal protection in areas where the majority of gun violence is taking place,” Auth said.

Scott Bach, president of the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs, has already filed two lawsuits against New Jersey that aim to overturn the state’s ban on large-capacity ammunition magazines and assault weapons. He told the New Jersey Monitor that a third suit will be filed if Murphy signs Danielson’s bill into law.

“The right to carry is here, and it’s here to stay, and everybody’s got to get used to that,” Bach told the outlet. “This angry fist-shaking by various states like New York and New Jersey is going to blow up in their faces. They can pretend that Bruen doesn’t say what it says, but it’s only going to come back to bite them.”