Our new section, The Infringement Report, will feature police departments and other government agencies that violate the 2nd Amendment rights of the citizenry. Here in New Jersey, there is no shortage of 2nd Amendment abuses by our government, and we will expose them to as much sunlight as possible. On that same note, there are some commendable police departments and government servants who deserve recognition for serving the tax-paying public with courtesy, respect, and efficiency. If this were the rule rather than the exception, The Infringement Report wouldn’t need to exist.
To set the stage for those who don’t live in New Jersey, we generally require three different types of firearms permits to purchase, possess, and carry firearms:
- Firearms Purchaser Identification Card – This permit is necessary to legally purchase long guns.
- Pistol Purchase Permit – A separate permit must be obtained for each handgun purchase.
- Permit to Carry a Handgun – This permit expires every two years, is quite costly, and has numerous prerequisites that applicants must fulfill each time they apply or renew.
Each of these permit types has a legally permissible timeframe for police or issuing agencies to approve or deny applications. However, there are no penalties for exceeding these time limits, nor is there a mechanism to hold agencies accountable. Consequently, police departments often take months, and sometimes over a year, to issue permits.
From the Bruen ruling, which compelled the State of New Jersey to begin issuing permits to carry firearms in public:
…because any permitting scheme can be put toward abusive ends, we do not rule out constitutional challenges to shall-issue regimes where, for example, lengthy wait times in processing license applications or exorbitant fees deny ordinary citizens their right to public carry…
That’s where Mendham Borough shines. Setting aside beliefs about the constitutionality of requiring government permission to exercise our God-given rights, it is the law of the land we live in, and there are very serious consequences for breaking it. Therefore, we deal with it while legal challenges are sorted out in court.
I’ve lived in Mendham for five years now. The local PD has been exceptionally helpful and efficient in issuing firearms-related permits. Here in town, Detective Chris Gobbi is responsible for processing all permit applications, which must receive a final sign-off from the Chief of Police or Officer in Charge.
When I first moved here, I needed to update the address on my Firearms Purchaser Identification Card. Although I don’t remember exactly how quickly it was approved, I remember that I was pleasantly surprised by the speed. Address changes represent another opportunity for government agencies to infringe on 2A rights. Not in Mendham.
Following the Bruen ruling in June 2022, still in disbelief that the DPRNJ was compelled to issue carry permits, I emailed the police department for more information. Detective Gobbi promptly emailed all required forms along with a helpful guide he had created himself, explaining all requirements and forms. He also called me shortly after sending the email to ensure I had received the application and instructions, and to answer any further questions. This small act of “customer service” leaves a great impression on the tax-paying, law-abiding public, who are often treated as the third tier by the first tier (government). I, for one, was impressed and grateful. Any NJ gun owner knows how different these experiences can be from one agency to another.
When I applied for my first Permit to Carry under the old, archaic system, not only did the police chief need to approve the permit, but the application also had to be sent to the county court for judicial review. The courts were not prepared to handle the volume of applications for carry permits, leading to significant delays. However, at the town level, our police department did their part swiftly, hand-delivering applications to the court.
In the months following the Bruen ruling, the State of New Jersey passed a “Bruen-response” bill. Sometimes called the “carry killer” bill, it was a bill (now law) passed with the intention of making just about the entire state a so-called “sensitive place” so that the general public would be deterred from carrying their firearms at all. As it has, and continues to, wind its way through the federal court system, with some sensitive places being upheld and some being enjoined, Detective Gobbi proactively created an informational packet. The purpose was to make sure all of the carry permit holders in town didn’t accidentally become felons by unknowingly violating this onerous law as it seemed to change monthly based on different court decisions.
Over the next couple of years, I applied for numerous pistol purchase permits, all issued within seven or eight days, which is just above the mandatory seven-day wait period in New Jersey. This further demonstrated that Detective Gobbi and the police chief were not delaying the process but were striving to serve the public efficiently.
Most recently, when my costly two-year carry permit expired, I had to navigate all the state-mandated hoops again before reapplying. Once I gathered all requirements and used the new, streamlined online system to submit my application, Detective Gobbi processed, approved, and got my PTC application signed off by the new Officer in Charge. There was no additional delay despite the recent elimination of the Chief position and the transition to an OIC.
We asked Detective Gobbi why he processes applications for firearms-related permits so much faster than the vast majority of municipalities in the state and his answer matched the level of professionalism I’ve become accustomed to:
The Bruen decision made it clear, “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” The State of NJ also made it clear, that the approval must be made within 90 days or it will be deemed to be approved by default. To avoid any concerns about the legitimacy of the Permit to Carry, to avoid any legal actions for violations of the 2nd Amendment and Bruen specifically, and to ensure that the residents of Mendham Borough are free to exercise their rights, I strive to complete the investigation process for approval as quickly as feasible.
In response to an OPRA request we filed to ask about some relevant Permit to Carry stats in the Borough of Mendham for 2024, here is what we learned:
- The average number of calendar days to process a PTC application was 16.4– When asked why the average was higher than my typical experience, Detective Gobbi explained that this average included circumstances that were beyond his control. One such example is the references requirement – some applicants included family members and had to find new references.
- No Permit to Carry applications were denied – This was important to ask because, despite the mandate of Bruen, New Jersey still has subjective standards in its law when it comes to the issuance of firearms-related permits. There have been many abuses of this standard across the state.
- No crimes were committed by a Permit to Carry holder in Mendham Borough – Despite what the NJ Attorney General would have the public think, background-checked, vetted Permit to Carry holders commit virtually no crime. This statistic is generally the same, statewide.
New Jersey is one of the most, if not the most, oppressive states concerning gun rights. With 21 counties and 564 municipalities, there’s no shortage of government agencies ready to administratively deny 2nd Amendment rights. We continually receive complaints about town after town. This is why I wanted to highlight my hometown of Mendham Borough, NJ. They conduct themselves in exemplary fashion and serve as a model for municipalities statewide.
