1927 N.J. Laws 742

1. No pawnbroker shall hereafter sell or have in his possession for sale or to loan or give away, any machine gun, automatic rifle, revolver, pistol, or other firearm, or other instrument of any kind known as a blackjack, slungshot, billy, sandclub, bludgeon, metal knuckles, dagger, dirk, dangerous knife, stiletto, bomb or other high explosive. Any pawnbroker violating the provisions of this act shall be guilty of a high misdemeanor and punished accordingly. 2. Any person who shall commit or attempt to commit any assault, robbery, larceny, burglary, or breaking and entering, when armed with, or having in his possession, any revolver, pistol, or other firearm, or other instrument of any kind known as a blackjack, slungshot, billy, sandclub, sandbag, bludgeon, metal knuckles, dagger, dirk, dangerous knife, stiletto, bomb or other high explosive, shall, in addition to the punishment provided for the crime, be punished on a first conviction by imprisonment for not more than five years; upon a second conviction by a period of not more than ten years; upon a third conviction by imprisonment for a period of not more than fifteen years; upon a fourth or subsequent conviction, by imprisonment for life, or for an additional period of not more than twenty years, in the discretion of the court; *provided, however,* the indictment or allegation shall aver that the person was armed with or had in his possession any such instrument and conviction is had thereon. 3. In the trial of a person for committing or attempting to commit any crime enumerated in section two hereof, the fact that he was armed with or had in his possession any of the firearms or instruments enumerated in section one hereof without a license to carry the same, shall be prima facie evidence of his intention to commit said crime of violence. The presence of a firearm in a vehicle is presumptive evidence of possession by all persons occupying or using the vehicle at the time. 4. No person who shall have been convicted in this State or elsewhere of any of the crimes enumerated in section two hereof shall purchase, own, or have in his possession or under his control any of the firearms or instruments enumerated in section one hereof. Violation of this section shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than five years. 5. Every person who manufactures, or who sells at wholesale, any of the firearms or instruments enumerated in section one hereof, shall be registered with the Secretary of State and shall furnish to the Secretary of State such particulars as may be prescribed by law for such registration; *provided,* that if the Secretary of State is satisfied that any applicant for such registration cannot be permitted to carry on business as a manufacturer or wholesale dealer in the firearms or instruments enumerated in section one hereof without danger to the public safety, he may refuse to register that person. The Secretary of State shall furnish to every person who is registered under this section, a certificate of registration. If any person desires to have his name removed from registration, or if the Secretary of State is satisfied that any person whose name is registered is no longer carrying on business as such manufacturer or wholesale dealer, or has ceased to have a place of business within the State, or cannot longer be permitted to carry on business as such manufacturer or wholesale dealer without danger to the public safety, he shall, after giving reasonable notice to such manufacturer or wholesale dealer and hearing thereon, cause the name of such person to be removed from registration. Any person aggrieved by the refusal of such State official to register him as such manufacturer or wholesale dealer, or by the removal of his name from registration, shall have a right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the State. Every manufacturer and wholesale dealer shall keep a detailed record of each firearm or instrument sold by him. Such record shall include date of sale, name of purchaser, description of arm, and serial number thereof. The information contained in such record shall be available to police and other public officials in the performance of their official duties. 6. No retail dealer shall sell or expose for sale, or have in his possession with intent to sell, any of the firearms or instruments enumerated in section one hereof without being licensed as hereafter provided. The Common Pleas judge of any court of this State, may, in his discretion, grant licenses in form prescribed by the Secretary of State, effective for not more than one year from date of issue, permitting the licensee to sell at retail within the said city or town or political subdivision, pistols or revolvers, subject to the following conditions, for breach of any of which the license shall be subject to forfeiture: 1. The business shall be carried on only in the building or buildings designated in the license. 2. The license or a copy thereof certified by the issuing authority shall be displayed in a conspicuous place on the premises where it can be easily read. 3. No pistol or revolver, or imitation thereof, or placard advertising the sale thereof, shall be placed in any window or in any part of said premises where it can be readily seen from the outside. 4. No pistol or revolver shall be delivered (a) unless the purchaser shall have obtained a permit to purchase under the provisions of section nine; (b) until seven days shall have elapsed after the application for the permit; (c) unless the purchaser either is personally known to the seller or shall present evidence of his identity; (d) unless the pistol or revolver shall be unloaded and securely wrapped; *provided, however,* that a permit to cover a pistol or revolver shall, for the purposes of this act and of section nine of this act, be equivalent to a permit to purchase a pistol or revolver. 5. A true record of every pistol or revolver sold shall be made in a book kept for the purpose, the form of which shall be prescribed by the Secretary of State and shall be personally signed by the person effecting the sale, and shall contain the date of the sale, the calibre, make, model, and manufacturer's number of the weapon, and the name, address and permit number of the purchaser. No license to sell at retail shall be granted except as provided in this section. Violation of any of the provisions of this section (viz. section six) shall be a misdemeanor. 7. Any person who shall knowingly sell any of the firearms or instruments enumerated in section one hereof to a minor under the age of eighteen years, or to a person not of sound mind, or to a drug addict, or to a person who has been convicted of committing or attempting to commit any of the crimes enumerated in section two hereof when armed with any of the firearms or instruments enumerated in section one hereof, shall be guilty of misdemeanor. 8. Any person who loans money secured by mortgage, deposit or pledge of a pistol or revolver shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both. 9. No person shall sell a pistol or revolver to another person unless the purchaser has first secured a permit to purchase or carry a pistol or revolver. No person of good character and who is of good repute in the community in which he lives, and who is not subject to any of the disabilities set forth in other sections of this act, shall be denied a permit to purchase a pistol or revolver. The judge of any court within this State (except, however, justices of the peace), the sheriff of a county or the chief of police of a city, town or municipality shall upon application issue to any person qualified under the provisions of this act a permit to purchase a pistol or revolver, and the Secretary of State shall have concurrent jurisdiction to issue such permit in any case, notwithstanding it has been refused by any other licensing official, if in his opinion the applicant is qualified. Applications for such permits shall be in form as prescribed by the Secretary of State and shall set forth the name, residence, place of business, age, occupation, sex, color, and physical description of the applicant, and shall state whether the applicant is a citizen, and whether he has ever been convicted of any of the crimes enumerated in section two hereof as defined in this act. Such application shall be signed by the applicant and shall contain as reference the names and addresses of two reputable citizens personally acquainted with him. Application blanks shall be obtainable from the Secretary of State and from any other officers authorized to grant such permit, and may be obtained from licensed retail dealers. The application, together with a fee of fifty cents, shall be delivered or forwarded to the licensing authority who shall investigate the same, and unless good cause for the denial thereof shall appear, shall grant said permit within seven days from the date of the receipt of the application. The permit shall be in form prescribed by the Secretary of State and shall be issued to the applicant in triplicate. The applicant shall deliver to the seller the permit in triplicate and the seller shall indorse on the back of each copy the make, model, calibre and serial number of the pistol or revolver, sold under the permit. One copy shall then be returned to the purchaser with the pistol or revolver, one copy shall be kept by the seller as a permanent record, and the third copy shall be forwarded by the seller within three days to the Secretary of State. If the permit is not granted, the fee shall be returned to the applicant. All fees for permits shall be paid into the general fund of the State if the permit be issued by the Secretary of State; to the municipality if the permit be issued by a municipal officer; in all other instances to the general fund of the county wherein the officer acts or the licensee resides or does business. A person shall not be restricted as to the number of pistols or revolvers he may purchase, if he applies for and obtains permits to purchase the same, but only one pistol or revolver shall be purchased or delivered on each permit. 10. The granting of permits to carry a revolver, pistol or other instrument, enumerated in section one hereof shall be under and according to the provisions of an act entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'A further supplement to an act entitled "An act for the punishment of crimes" (Revision of 1898), approved June fourteenth, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight,' which supplementary act was approved March eleventh, nineteen hundred and twenty-four," and the supplements thereto and amendments thereof. 11. No person shall, without a license therefor issued as provided in the statute referred to in the preceding section, carry a pistol or revolver in any vehicle or concealed on or about his person, except in his dwelling house or place of business or on land possessed by him; *provided, however,* that nothing in this act contained shall be construed in any way to apply to the United States marshal or his deputies, the sheriff, or the under-sheriffs of any county, nor to the regularly employed members of any police department, nor to any special policemen appointed by the governing body of any municipality of this State, nor to any prosecutor or assistant prosecutor of any county, regular fish and game wardens, constable, railway police, canal police, steamboat police, and prosecutor's detectives; nor to any member of the State Police, nor to any motor vehicle inspector; nor to any officer of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; nor to any prison or jail wardens or their deputies; nor to guards while in the employ of any banking or building and loan institution of this State; nor to any court attendant engaged in attending the Circuit Court, Court of Oyer and Terminer, Court of Common Pleas, or General Court of Quarter Sessions, justices of the peace; nor to the members of the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps of the United States or of the National Guard when on duty; nor to duly authorized military organizations, nor to the members thereof when going to or from places of meeting of their respective organizations, carrying the weapons prescribed for such drill, exercise or parade; *and provided, further,* nothing in this act contained shall be construed to apply to any person having a written permit to carry any revolver, pistol or other firearm, when such permit has been obtained pursuant to the provisions of this act; nor to public utility corporations in the transportation of explosives; *provided, however,* that nothing herein contained shall prevent any person from keeping or carrying about his or her place of business, dwelling house or premises, any such revolver, pistol, firearm or other weapon, or from carrying the same from any place of purchase to his or her dwelling house or place of business, or from his or her dwelling house or place of business to any place where repairing is done, to have the same repaired and returned or to carry a gun, rifle or knife in the woods or fields or upon the waters of the State for the purpose of hunting or target practice. Whenever the words "pistol" or "revolver" are used in this act such words shall include a shotgun, rifle or other firearm with over-all length less than twenty-six inches. 12. Any person who shall give or cause to be given false information in applying for a permit to purchase a pistol or revolver, or in purchasing or otherwise acquiring delivery of a pistol or revolver shall be deemed to be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be subject to the same penalty as is provided for the crime of misdemeanor in this State. 13. It shall be unlawful within this State to manufacture, sell, purchase or possess, except for military or police purposes, any muffler, silencer or device for deadening or muffling the sound of a firearm when discharged. Any violation of this section shall be a misdemeanor. 14. Any person, except a duly appointed law enforcement officer, or a member of the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps of the United States, or of the National Guard or organized reserves when on duty, who possesses, or carries on or about his person or in a vehicle, a bomb or bomb shell, except for blasting or other commercial use, or who, with intent to use the same unlawfully against the person or property of another, possesses or carries any explosive substance, or any explosive liquid, gas or like substance, shall be guilty of a high misdemeanor. 15. No person shall change, alter, remove or obliterate the name of the maker, model, manufacturer's number, or other mark of identification of any pistol or revolver. Any violation of this section shall be a misdemeanor. 16. No property right shall exist in any firearms unlawfully possessed, carried or used, and all such firearms are hereby declared to be nuisances and forfeited to the State. When such forfeited firearms shall be taken from any person, they shall be surrendered to the sheriff of the county in which taken or to the head of the police department in cities or to the office of the prosecutor of the county. *Provided, however,* that if any such firearms shall be found to be the property of an innocent owner, it shall be returned to such owner if and when no longer needed for evidential purposes. 17. In the case of the conviction under this act of a person who is not a citizen of the United States, it shall be the duty of the clerk of the court in which such conviction is secured to certify the fact of such conviction to the proper officer of the United States Government having supervision of the deportation of aliens. 18. This act shall not apply to antique pistols unsuitable for use as firearms and possessed as curiosities or ornaments. 19. All licenses heretofore issued within this State permitting the sale or purchase of pistols or revolvers shall expire ninety days after the passage of this act. 20. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed.