ASSEMBLY, No. 2800
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
INTRODUCED MARCH 20, 1997
By Assemblyman GREENWALD
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.
3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month following enactment.
STATEMENT
Under current law (subsection c. of N.J.S.2C:58-3), individuals who are, or have been, confined to a hospital, mental institution or sanitarium for a mental disorder may not be issued a firearms purchaser identification card or a handgun purchase permit.
There is, however, 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 submit periodically to the Superintendent of State Police a report on the people confined in their facilities for a mental disorder which would disqualify them from obtaining a firearms purchaser identification card of a handgun purchase 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 a card or permit can be issued to an applicant. To protect the officers and employees of these hospitals, mental institutions and sanitariums, the bill affords them civil and criminal immunity provided the reports and the information in them are prepared and submitted in good faith.
Finally, recognizing that confinement for a mental disorder is not necessarily a permanent disqualification, the bill specifies that the superintendent must inform any person denied a card or 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.
Establishes confidential data base to assist State Police in issuance of firearms purchaser identification cards and handgun purchase permits.