In a sane world, this suit would be dismissed instantly, with prejudice.
New Jersey Sues California Company Over ‘Ghost Guns’
New Jersey’s attorney general has sued a California company that sells gun parts that can be turned into working firearms.The suit announced Friday alleges that U.S. Patriot Armory violated New Jersey’s consumer fraud laws when it advertised and sold gun parts to an undercover investigator last month.
The investigator bought parts for an AR-15 assault rifle.
New Jersey bans purchases of gun parts for use in making firearms with no serial numbers, called “ghost guns.” It’s also a crime to possess an unregistered assault firearm in the state.
First off, a nonfirearm transaction in California is subject to New Jersey law? I don’t think so.
There are a couple more problems. Let’s take a look at the law. The relevant section is this:
Purchasing firearm parts to manufacture untraceable firearm. In addition to any other penalty imposed under current law, a person who purchases separately or as a kit any combination of parts from which a firearm may be readily assembled with the purpose to manufacture an untraceable firearm is guilty of a crime of the third degree. Notwithstanding the provisions of N.J.S.2C:1-8 or any other law, a conviction under this subsection shall not merge with a conviction for any other criminal offense and the court shall impose separate sentences upon a violation of this subsection and any other criminal offense.
Fine; it’s unlawful for someone in New Jersey to purchase the parts. Sort of. It says nothing about the seller.
But the intent counts, too. The intent of the purchaser must be to assemble an assault firearm. Was it the intent of the undercover investigator to assemble such a firearm? Please say, “Yes,” because for once they didn’t include a law enforcement exemption. The investigator should be charged.
Ah, but what if the purchaser of parts lawfully own a firearm, and he wants to stock replacement parts for repairs? At least in this law, that’s perfectly lawful. Intent matters; mens rea.
For this to fly at all, the investigator would have had to specifically tell U.S. Patriot Armory that he was buying the parts with the intent of violating New Jersey law, making it a co-conspirator. Otherwise, for all the company knows, it was selling to a licensed individual building a lawful serialized gun, or repairing one.
Sadly, this is no longer a sane world, and the courts exemplify that.
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Another problem besides the difficulty of proving intent: the law says it’s illegal to purchase “any combination of parts from which a firearm may be readily assembled”.
The problem is with the phrase, “readily assembled”.
A parts kit is not a firearm, nor can a functioning firearm be assembled at all — let alone “readily assembled” — from a parts kit alone.
For an AR-pattern rifle, a complete upper receiver cannot be “readily assembled” into a firearm. Nor can a lower build kit (which usually includes the trigger parts/assembly, grip, buffer tube and spring, and stock).
Even together, those kits cannot be “readily assembled” into a functioning firearm. There’s still one piece missing, but it’s absolutely necessary:
The lower receiver.
It’s for this reason that the ATF classifies the lower receiver as the “firearm” even lacking any other parts, which in turn is why uppers and parts kits are usually unserialized, at least to the ATF (the manufacturers might number them for internal QC purposes); they aren’t firearms. It doesn’t matter how many upper receivers or build kits you have; without the lower receiver none of them are or can ever be firearms.
But anti-gun attorneys general and judges have never bee content to let clear statutory language get in the way of power, have they?
Manufacturers take note: Add New Jersey to the list of states to get the “Barrett Treatment”. Don’t sell any firearm to LEOs in the state that those LEOs won’t allow non-LEOs to possess. Cut them off.
Clearly no one should sell to NJ government entities. Not just for Barret’s reason, but… this case. The PLCA Act was meant to prevent frivolous lawsuits (attempts to drive manufacturers into bankruptcy). But now anything sold to NJ might show up in another suit like this, in an end run around PLCAA.
As a follow-up, the manufacturer’s attorney should appear in court, demand to see the evidence (the alleged-illegal parts kits), subpoena the State Police’s chief armorer, and demand — for the record, and before the judge and the full court — he/she assemble the parts kits into a firearm using no outside components.
When the chief armorer can’t do it, the attorney should demand the suit be dismissed as unjustified and malicious, and demand attorneys’ fees and court costs for his/her client.
This part I have to disagree with. The law specifies “a person who purchases separately or as a kit any combination of parts”, not even a complete set of parts. The way the NJ law is written, a person has committed an offense if they bought nothing but a buffer spring… if the intent was to use it to assemble an AR eventually.
Just like in Michigan you can’t carry a knife with the intent to use it to assault someone. There is no mention of the length, or such.
Since I think 2017, we can even purchase a switchblade. We cannot carry a dagger, dirk, butterfly knife, stiletto or several other types of knives, and not a blade sharpened on both sides.
I never have figured out how the law knows how to prove intent.
Grewall has another probem mentioned here:
The US Constitution stipulates that in all matters invovling a state (New Jersey, this time), or between a state or citizen of one state, and a citizen (corporatioins count) of another state, FEDERAL courts must be the venue. Grewall filed in a SUperior COurt.
tjat court has no jurisdictioin over any resident of another state.
Patriot Arms needs to file a notice with the superior court that they have no jurisdiction, and quote Art 3 Par 2 of the US COnstitution. Since AtG Grewall is suing in his official capacity as AtG of a State, this case can ONLY be taken up on original jurisdiction y the US Supreme Court. Art 3 Sec 2 Par 2.
Then declare the named respondent, not beung subject to any proceeding of that NJ Supreior Court, will not respond further to any notice of that court.
What, is the bailff of that court going to hop a plane, come out to San Francisco, arrest the man who put that part in the package and shipped it to NR, and haul him back to NJ to answer for his actions? That would be interstate kidnapping, a federal felony crime, I believe a capital offense. He don’t have a pair big enough to tackle that monkey.