BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms commends Englishtown. New Jersey for adopting a resolution that will provide financial relief to concealed carry holders. The action comes after CCRKBA sent a letter in support of the resolution to the mayor and borough council.
Post-Bruen, New Jersey enacted a law that raised the permitting fee for a permit to carry to $200. The $200 permit is only good for two years, and the cost to carry is an example of the “exorbitant fees” the Supreme Court said would be impermissible even under a “shall-issue” permitting system. Of that fee, $150 is appropriated to the individual municipality an applicant lives in. Englishtown resolved that a rebate program shall be instituted, refunding $150 of the money collected back to applicants. The remaining $50 goes to the State of New Jersey.
The Committee addressed the Mayor and council of Englishtown on Tuesday via a letter–which can be read here–when news about the resolution began circulating. “Seeing this body move within their powers to create a rebate vehicle for permit to carry applicants is a show of true leadership,” CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb said in his letter. Gottlieb also cited the unconstitutional nature of the fee when he addressed the council.
During comments Wednesday evening, Englishtown Mayor Daniel Francisco said that the resolution “is important” and that he’s there “to try to protect people’s rights.” Later on Francisco explicitly stated when drawing an analogue, “I think if Englishtown passed the law that said every time you came to tell me your opinion about something, I charged you $150 and if you didn’t pay that fee, you would not be allowed to speak before us, that would be the most unconstitutional and abusive policy I could possibly imagine.”
“Moves like this from courageous municipalities in a state as hostile to the Second Amendment as New Jersey are very commendable,” CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb said. “Mayor Daniel Francisco and his council brought forward a meaningful measure that will help the economically disadvantaged gain access to the most effective life-saving tool for self-defense; the ability to bear arms in public.
“Governor Phil Murphy and the equally misguided legislature in the Garden State may have forced these fees upon permit to carry applicants, but Trenton can’t tell municipalities what they can and cannot do with the funds they collect. In refunding these monies back to the people, it’s a clear message about the unconstitutional nature of the law–A law that Murphy enacted in December of 2022 because Bruen upended the law. The Englishtown mayor had the fortitude to put the unconstitutionality of these fees on the record, calling Trenton out on their hatred towards gun owners and the Second Amendment.”
The resolution passed by Englishtown, N.J. is good governance, as well as a roadmap for other municipalities to copy. The Committee eagerly waits to see what other jurisdictions will follow suit. CCRKBA’s support of this measure and action from their membership shows that grassroots activism is a powerful tool.ise.