New Jersey - NJ Gun Laws

To buy a rifle or shotgun, you need a Firearms Purchaser Identification Card (FID, now issued digitally as an E-FID). You must be 18, pass a state criminal and mental health background check, and pay a $50 fee. Once issued, it's valid for 10 years and covers long gun and ammunition purchases going forward, not just one transaction.

Handguns work differently. Every individual handgun purchase needs its own Handgun Purchase Permit, and you have to be 21. The permit is valid for 90 days (with one 90-day extension available), and state law caps you at one handgun purchase every 30 days.

Everything is filed through the New Jersey State Police's online Firearms Application and Registration System (FARS). Fingerprinting is required for carry permit applicants; purchase permit applicants go through the standard background check tied to the FID/handgun permit process.

New Jersey does not allow private handgun sales between people who aren't dealers. If you're selling or buying a handgun and you're not going through a licensed dealer, that dealer still has to run the transaction and complete a NICS background check on the buyer.

There's a real exemption for immediate family: spouse, domestic partner, parent, stepparent, grandparent, sibling, step-sibling, child, stepchild, or grandchild. Transfers within that circle don't need a dealer or a NICS check. Outside that list, even a sale between friends has to go through a dealer, no exceptions.

This applies to handguns specifically. Long guns still require the buyer to have a valid FID, but the transaction mechanics for private long gun transfers are less locked-down than handguns — when in doubt, run it through a dealer anyway.

New Jersey layers its own list on top of the federal prohibited-persons categories. You're barred if you:

- Have a felony (indictable) conviction, or certain disorderly persons convictions involving domestic violence or weapons
- Are subject to a domestic violence restraining order
- Have been convicted of even a misdemeanor domestic violence offense
- Are the subject of a Final Extreme Risk Protective Order (New Jersey's "red flag" law, in place since 2018) — a temporary order can be issued fast, with a full hearing within 10 days for a final order that blocks purchase/possession for at least a year
- Have a documented history that raises the state's mental health disqualifiers
- Are under 18 (long guns) or under 21 (handguns) — see Minors below
- Fall under any of the standard federal categories (fugitive, unlawful drug user, dishonorably discharged, illegal immigration status, renounced citizenship, etc.)

There is no open carry in New Jersey, period. The law is explicit: a Permit to Carry a Handgun only authorizes concealed carry, and openly carrying a handgun as a civilian is a separate criminal offense regardless of whether you hold a permit. If you're coming from a state where open carry is normal, leave that habit at the state line.

You need a Permit to Carry a Handgun (PCH) to carry concealed, and the process is more involved than most states:

- Total application fee runs about $200 ($50 to the State Police, $150 to your local police department)
- Both initial and renewal applicants must be fingerprinted
- Permits are valid for 2 years; renewal can be filed up to 4 months before expiration
- New Jersey's permit is honored by roughly 25 other states through reciprocity, but New Jersey does not honor any other state's carry permit or license, full stop. If you're visiting from out of state, your home-state permit means nothing here.

An earlier requirement that carry permit holders also carry separate liability insurance was part of New Jersey's 2022 post-Bruen law, but it's currently blocked by the ongoing Koons/Siegel litigation (see the disclaimer at the top of this page) — don't assume it's gone for good, just currently not enforced.

Handguns: if you're not carrying under a valid permit, the handgun must be unloaded and in a closed, securely fastened case, gun box, or locked in the trunk. Even permit holders who leave a handgun in a parked, unattended vehicle need to keep it out of sight and secured the same way — a permit to carry doesn't mean you can leave a loaded gun sitting on the seat.

Long guns: unloaded and securely cased during transport, same baseline rule as most states, tied to having a valid FID to lawfully possess it in the first place.

New Jersey's sensitive-places list is long and, right now, partly contested in federal court. Categories the state has enacted include: schools and school buses, courthouses and courtrooms, jails and detention facilities, hospitals and healthcare facilities, public parks and forests, libraries, museums, casinos, public transportation, bars and restaurants that serve alcohol, and government buildings.

Here's the catch: a 2022 provision that made carrying on essentially ALL privately-owned property open to the public illegal by default (unless the owner explicitly posted permission) was blocked by a federal court injunction, and that injunction is still in effect as of this writing. So the "default no, unless posted yes" rule you may have read about elsewhere is NOT currently the law — ordinary trespass rules apply instead (the owner can still ask you to leave or post a sign, but there's no automatic statewide presumption against you).

The bigger sensitive-places list (parks, libraries, museums, alcohol-serving venues, etc.) has fared better in court and is currently being enforced. But this entire area is sitting in active litigation (Koons v. Platkin, argued en banc February 2026, decision pending) that could change multiple items on this list with little notice. Treat this section as the most likely to go stale first.

You must be 18 to hold an FID (needed for long guns) and 21 to get a Handgun Purchase Permit. Below those ages, direct possession is generally not permitted outside narrow, supervised exceptions (such as licensed hunting or supervised target shooting through a parent/guardian, consistent with how most states handle it).

A juvenile adjudicated delinquent for an offense that would be a weapons-related crime if committed by an adult is barred from firearm ownership, similar to how an adult conviction would disqualify them.

⚠️ Actively changing as of this writing. New Jersey's long-standing ban on magazines over 10 rounds and its "assault firearm" ban (a list of banned semiautomatic models, including AR-15-pattern rifles) were struck down as unconstitutional by the full Third Circuit, sitting en banc, in a 10-5 ruling on July 17, 2026, in a case brought by the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs.

Update: that ruling did not take effect. New Jersey asked the Third Circuit to pause its own decision, and the court granted a stay on August 4, 2026, before the ban would have lapsed. That means the magazine cap and assault firearm ban are both still being enforced right now. New Jersey met its October 15, 2026 deadline: in early October it filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case. The stay stays in place while that petition is pending, and the petition is expected to be held until the Supreme Court decides similar assault weapon cases from Illinois and Connecticut, which are set for argument on December 2, 2026. A ruling in those cases would most likely come by summer 2027. Bottom line for today: treat the ban as current, enforced law. This is exactly the kind of item the 30-day recheck exists for, and we'll keep watching it closely.

New Jersey is a duty-to-retreat state, not a stand-your-ground state — there is no NJ law removing the obligation to retreat in public if you can do so with complete safety.

Castle Doctrine: inside your own home, that duty to retreat goes away. You can use force, including deadly force, without retreating, provided you weren't the initial aggressor. Notably, New Jersey's castle doctrine exception is narrower than many states' — it applies specifically to the dwelling itself, not your vehicle, workplace, or front porch. If you're confronted in your car or at work, the duty to retreat still applies if a safe retreat exists.

New Jersey has no real firearms preemption law. Unlike Pennsylvania, municipalities here have meaningful authority to pass their own firearm ordinances, as long as they don't directly conflict with state law — and under a 1973 state Supreme Court case (Township of Chester v. Panicucci), a local ordinance can even be stricter than the state law covering the same subject. Practically: local rules can and do vary town to town in New Jersey. Don't assume what's true in one municipality holds in the next one over.

- New Jersey State Police, Firearms Investigation Unit: njsp.njoag.gov (Firearms section)
- Firearms Application and Registration System (FARS): njportal.com/njsp/FARS
- Your local Police Department: handles the local portion of carry permit applications and fees
- New Jersey Office of the Attorney General: njoag.gov (statewide firearms policy and litigation updates)
- ATF: for federal NFA questions — note New Jersey's state-level suppressor ban applies regardless of federal NFA approval, so this mostly doesn't apply here