N.J. Lawmakers Approve Nation’s Toughest Ban on Assault Weapons

The New Jersey Legislature approved the nation’s toughest ban on assault weapons Thursday night, including a provision that would require most people who legally bought the weapons to give them up.

The measure, pushed hard by Democratic Gov. James J. Florio, cleared both houses of the Democratic-controlled Legislature despite aggressive lobbying led by the National Rifle Assn.

The new law would allow collectors to keep their weapons if they remove the firing pins. It also would exempt target shooters who can prove they use the guns in organized competitions.

The exemptions would cover about 20% of the 300,000 to 600,000 assault weapons believed to be in the state, officials said.

Florio hailed the law’s passage, saying: “These are weapons of war designed to kill as many people as possible in the least amount of time. They have no place on our streets, where too often our police find themselves outgunned.”

But a leading opponent, Democratic state Sen. Raymond Zane, called the measure “absolutely absurd,” saying: “The bill is just directed at the wrong people. These people are law-abiding citizens. Some of them are clergy, lawyers, doctors, schoolteachers.”

Under the new law, residents who own assault rifles and are not in an exempted category would be given one year to sell them out of state. Manufacture, sale or possession of the 38 kinds of assault weapons listed in the bill would be punishable by three to five years in prison and fines of up to $7,500.