New Jersey – -(AmmoLand.com)- The state of New Jersey decided a long time ago to wage an all out war on the Second Amendment. Dating back to the late ’60s, the Garden State has been problematic, to put it lightly. The Florio free in 93’ days brought bad “gun control” measures, but law abiding citizens of the land of a thousand diners has not seen such a zeal for stripping away civil liberties as that which has been captured by Governor Phil “The Bill of Rights is Above my Paygrade” Murphy. Under the leadership of the Murph, former Attorney General Grewal launched a so-called consumer fraud investigation against Smith and Wesson.
Grewal felt it was in his jurisdiction to be able to look into any and every aspect of Smith and Wesson’s internal documents concerning advertising.
The suit that Smith and Wesson filed against the state, in lieu of handing over the documents that the Garden State Gestapo requested, was dismissed by District Court. From an order on the Smith and Wesson’s appeal:
In October2020, the New Jersey Attorney General issued a subpoena under the Act seeking documents from Smith & Wesson related to the company’s advertisements in New Jersey. The subpoena first made a general demandthatSmith & Wesson produce copies of and supporting documentation for “all advertisements for [Smith & Wesson’s] [m]erchandise that are or were available or accessible in New Jersey [c]oncerning home safety, concealed carry, personal protection, personal defense, personal safety, or home defense benefits of a [f]irearm.”
[…]
Instead of producing the documents when due under the subpoena, Smith & Wesson filed a complaint in the District of New Jersey under 42 U.S.C. §1983, alleging the subpoena violated the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments. Two months later, in February 2021, the New Jersey Attorney General sought to enforce the subpoena in state court. The state trial court ordered Smith & Wesson to show cause and threatened the company with contempt and a total ban on sales in New Jersey. In response, Smith & Wesson raised many of the same constitutional arguments it presented in its federal suit. The state court summarily rejected those arguments and required Smith & Wesson to produce the subpoenaed documents within 30 days. Smith & Wesson sought an emergency stay of production, but the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court and the New Jersey Supreme Court denied it.
Meanwhile, in federal court, Smith & Wesson amended its complaint to add claims that the Attorney General’s suit was “retaliation for Smith& Wesson’s exercise of its First Amendment-protected right to petition [the District] Court for redress.
On March 10, 2022, an order set the record straight in that Smith and Wesson do have a legitimate complaint against the state and ordered the case be remanded with instructions. The 22-page order touches upon some very interesting concepts that are worth highlighting.
We must consider just one more factor—whether Smith & Wesson has been charged with wrongdoing for which it can be sanctioned—to determine whether the state action is “quasi-criminal.”See ACRA Turf, 748 F.3d at138.We agree with Smith & Wesson that the subpoena enforcement action is not a suit initiated to punish wrongdoing.
Former Attorney General Grewal set out on a witch hunt when attacking Smith and Wesson, other companies from what I understand as well, and to read that the court agrees that Smith and Wesson did not engage in “quasi-criminal” activities is promising.
First, the Attorney General did not allege that Smith & Wesson violated any substantive legal duty. To date, he has not accused the company of violating the Consumer Fraud Act; he is investigating possible violations.
[…]
Second, and most importantly, Smith & Wesson did nothing wrong, so the suit cannot be one “initiated to sanction [it] for some wrongful act.” Id. at 79.Instead of producing the documents on the date specified on the subpoena, it petitioned a federal court to adjudicate its rights and obligations. Federal law authorizes just such a civil action (i.e., one alleging that the Attorney General violated the company’s constitutional rights).
[…]
For all these reasons, we hold that the subpoena enforcement action was not quasi-criminal under Sprint.
This is a bit of fresh air coming from the courts concerning New Jersey’s continual trampling on liberties.
In sum, we hold that abstention was not warranted in this case because the document production order was not “uniquely in furtherance of the state courts’ ability to perform their judicial functions.” Sprint, 571 U.S. at 78 (quoting NOPSI, 491 U.S. at 368).
Federal courts owe due respect to state courts. Yet the Supreme Court has cautioned that abstention is appropriate only in “exceptional” cases. Id.at 73 (quoting NOPSI, 491 U.S. at 368). This case does not meet the carefully delineated criteria for abstention established in Sprint. We Will Therefore Vacate the District Court’s order dismissing the case and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Perhaps more illuminating than the full order were comments made in a concurring opinion:
Now, for the first time, the State seeks to apply the Consumer Fraud Act to supplement these specific restrictions, waving aside concerns about the protections of the First and Second Amendment rights of New Jersey residents, as always, the name of “safety.” It is a well-traveled road in the Garden State, where long-dormant regulatory powers suddenly spring forth to address circumstances that have not changed. See Ass’n of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs Inc. v. Att’y Gen. New Jersey, 974 F.3d 237, 258 (3d Cir. 2020)(Matey, J., dissenting)(discussing New Jersey’s inconsistent restrictions on magazine capacity). Consider where this new highway will take us.2Futurefirearms instructors, fearing the arrival of subpoenas, might decide it is not worth advertising their services for“ safety” training. Maybe range operators, sporting clubs, or hunting lodges, recalling some dusty pamphlet mentioning their attention to “safety” will weigh waiting for investigators against early retirement. And almost certainly, every shop-owner stocking firearms for “self-defense” or personal “safety” can begin planning for periodic advertising inspections from the Attorney General. Perhaps publishers will be punished too, with outdoor magazines thinking twice before speaking about the content of a product.3 One might suspect that is the whole point.4
This portion of the concurring opinion pretty much calls out New Jersey on its continued quest to completely abolish the Second Amendment. The executive branch through the Attorney General’s office is abusing its powers and acts to chill the lawful commerce of any firearm, shooting, and or hunting-related business transaction by eliminating individual and corporate compulsion to advertise in the same. New Jersey has been running a racketeering ring on civil liberties for decades and it’s high time they get taken behind the woodshed for it.
What may come in an opinion from this remand should be interesting and we’ll be keeping our eyes on it.
About John Petrolino
John Petrolino is a US Merchant Marine Officer, writer, author of Decoding Firearms: An Easy to Read Guide on General Gun Safety & Use and NRA certified pistol, rifle, and shotgun instructor living under and working to change New Jersey’s draconian and unconstitutional gun laws. You can find him on the web at www.johnpetrolino.com on twitter at @johnpetrolino, facebook at @thepenpatriot and on instagram @jpetrolinoiii .
New Jersey is a criminal enterprise masquerading as a State.
2nd Amendment ? We doan need no steenkin Amendment !
One day only liberals will live in that high taxed communist shithole
or the cities will be surrounded by razor wire and the rest will be added to pa
Bangalores work just fine on concertina. You just have to remember that multiple layers of wire will drop to take their place once the bottom layer is destroyed, so bring plenty of bangalores.
Since most of the libtards live in big cities (look at a voting map), why not just let them stay all grouped up and herded together. Cities are worthy nuclear targets.
Or in a civil war, we have them surrounded and can cut off their logistics, water, and electricity whenever we want. Besides Bangalore Torpedoes are slow, and dangerous to the user.
Seiging a city, keeping it completely bottled up, costs you time and resources and it becomes a waiting game to see who can outlast the other. Regardless of how desperate you drive a besieged city, eventually, you will have to go in there to root the enemy out.
If civil war: It takes fewer troops than an assault. I’m not a direct assault advocate. That is old fashioned. No, rooting, just let them starve, parch, die for lack of meds.
Use the freed up troops elsewhere. Rotate units off the line for some R&R.
House to house is expensive. Waste ammo, not men.
If war with a nuclear capable nation: Won’t be no siege.
this started as an idea to control criminally insane, what do you consider someone who wants to enslave you?
You mean that putting concertina wire around a city and not letting anyone out started out as an idea to control the criminally insane. I did not know that. I thought that it was liberals that live in high taxed communist shit holes.
Are there enough criminally insane to fill an entire city? I hate to waste resources. Could we, maybe, stuff a few marxist socialists in there, too?
Oh, as to those that try to enslave us, I call them bureaucrats, legislators, and sometimes call them judges.
As a former commander… You have an objective that you must achieve to be successful. Let’s say you are given the task of securing California where you have several major and minor cities and each of which must be captured and or pacified. Your forces, supplies, resources, funding, personnel, and time are all finite. When securing a city you really only have four choices, attack, obliterate, siege, or ignore (or some combination thereof). To effectively attack or siege it I have to surround it and cut it off from resupply else it becomes a thorn or worse an avenue for… Read more »
Yeah, I was a Bn Cmdr. I don’t think that my tasker would be to secure CA or even just LA.
Dana Point, maybe. I’d be begging the Bde Cmdr for the Dana Point annex to the battle plan.
The problem scales up and down the chain. A battalion might have the same issue with a small town of 10k-20k, but it would take 1-2 divisions along with a naval component at least for something like San Diego or even more for LA. Regardless, the directives are the same and the resources and time are still the driving force.
Ohhh, they got me? My reply is waiting for approval. Darn … it is funny, too!
these are demoncrats, they dont grow food or fix roads or buildings they want to dictate tell you what to do, we are putting them in their own little city state where there are no rights so they can kill each other over scraps ,
You can do that, but eventually, you want that land and its infrastructure for your own use. Cities are often built on or around resources and logistics hubs. A million starving people will want what you have and make it so that you have to allocate a substantial force just keep them from stealing your own supplies. I argue that it is better to drive them away, and never let them return.
Well, there are lots of ways of doing things. All those starving liberal minds would have to go, though. They don’t get to leave. If they survive, a guy might have to fight them again. That is hardly fair to the line troops.
Fight or flee, but don’t let them stay and certainly never return, else they’ll just start their leftist malfeasance once again. Drive them into the sea if need be, but allow them not one inch of US soil upon which to seek refuge.
gas works
Ya mean gasoline, right?
no, you want to get rid of them and keep infrastructure, the kind of gas governments have but say they dont
In our little notional revolution (that is for the government personnel), I don’t think that We the people have any of that in our inventory, hypothetically speaking, of course.
realistically, the progressives have made the cities so dirty that disease will take care of most if you cut them off. Garbage buildup in nyc during the strikes was five to six feet high cholera cases started showing up at hospitals, there was not as many homeless and drugs on the streets then ,now only danger is you may have to burn the cities to stop spread of disease, this was my original premise, these people are not taught anything about natural hygiene
A little under-appreciated bit of info is that chemical warfare grew out of the pesticide and agricultural fertilizer industries (as did munitions). Petrochemicals and other mining industries lay the foundation for everything around us. But I digress. A pesticide plant can switch over to chemical warfare production with little more than ingredient changes. On the other side of the equation, the giant vats that produce penicillin and other wonders of the pharmaceutical world can quickly be switched to the absolute worst of the biological weapons world. The complex curvature and insane tolerances needed to machine nuclear components and their exploitive… Read more »
leave them in their own shit holes and not let them out to bother US
Yes, the smart ones will get out of the kill zone … early! And welcome to the site.
So with this apparent victory in hand, when wil they sue the State of New Joisey and the Grewel Unit for their legal costs? They had to have been signficant, with all the trouble Grewel foisted upon them.
But considering they were up against Joisey, it would seem a pretty good outcome.
Gun ownership in NJ is problematic in every way. But across the Delaware, not too many miles from me, lies extensive 2A freedom for law-abiding citizens. You can live a whole clean life in NJ with firearms training and NRA certificates, and you’ll still be turned down for pistol permits(depending on venue). While in Pa., a young cousin, with little training, applied for concealed carry permit, just for the hell of it,and received it at first try. What a country!
That’s because Pennsylvania is a must issue state and as long as no criminal history you get the CCP.
and they have a kickass cabellas so close to jersey to make them squirm
My cousin and I had dealings with NJ when buying pistols, he lived in NJ at the time, and I lived in Pa. We decided to purchase pistols and our uncle who was a State Police, was going to teach us both how to safely handle and shoot them. That was great, but then came the fun part or should be stated aggravation, I went to my sporting goods store and purchased my pistol and walked out with it. Not so for my cousin, he purchased his pistol, but it took him 6 months before he got his pistol, 6… Read more »