N.J. Man Denied Gun Permit, Largely Based on Mental Health Records + Social Media Posts |
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N.J. Man Denied Gun Permit, Largely Based on Mental Health Records Social Media Posts
"Petitioner's testimony confirmed his 2017 confrontation with his parents, he had authored the Reddit posts, and he had publicly uttered racial slurs and had made statements about raping women."
Eugene Volokh | 6.19.2026 12:31 PM
From In the Matter of Gun Permit Appeal of A.A.R., decided yesterday by the N.J. intermediate appellate court (Judges Katie Gummer, James Paganelli, and Christine Vanek):
[The New Jersey State Police] denied petitioner's application [for a gun purchase permit] …, concluding he "lack[ed] the essential character and temperament necessary to be entrusted with a firearm, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:53-3C(5)." The Superintendent's decision was predicated "on the totality of the circumstances" after reviewing records demonstrating: Freehold Township (Freehold) had denied petitioner's two previous FPIC [Firearms Purchaser Identification Card] applications—one of which was affirmed on appeal to the Law Division; and petitioner's medical history, including a mental health evaluation; involvement in a domestic dispute; and "violent tendencies." …
[Freehold Chief of Police] Baumann explained he had denied petitioner's first application in 2021 primarily because of petitioner's prior mental-health evaluation and his failure to submit a clinical psychologist's opinion stipulating to his ability to handle firearms. Chief Baumann testified he had also been concerned with "a situation in [petitioner's] home where [his] father … or parents had taken away [his] privileges to some kind of computer use." They had "turned the electricity off and then [petitioner] had rewired it within the home, or something, potentially almost causing a fire."
[NJSP Firearms Investigation Bureau] Trooper Somers testified that during his investigation of petitioner's FPIC application filed with the NJSP, he had reviewed medical records that demonstrated in 2017 petitioner was psychiatrically evaluated in a hospital on the advice of his therapist and because his parents believed he was "becoming a threat to himself and others." Trooper Somers was........