A Year After Uvalde, Majority of New Jerseyans Want Stricter Concealed Carry Decision

Most New Jersey residents are supportive of current gun legislation within the state, a year after the school shooting that killed 21, including 19 children, in Uvalde, TX

That’s according to the most recent Rutgers-Eagleton Poll, conducted in partnership with the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, which found a majority of the state’s residents disagree with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen.

The poll reported 61% disagreed with the Supreme Court ruling, which overturned the 1911 Sullivan Act that required applicants for a license to carry a concealed pistol on their purpose to show “proper cause.”

Post-Bruen Findings

Meanwhile, 58% said they believed individual states should be allowed to require firearm owners to demonstrate a justifiable need for a firearm in public places when applying for a permit.

“The data clearly show that, post-Bruen, judicial decisions regarding firearms are in direct contrast to the wishes of New Jerseyans, overall, and, in many cases, that’s true across party lines and for both firearm owners and non-firearm owners,” said Michael Anestis, associate professor in urban-global public health at the Rutgers School of Public Health and executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center.

Support for New Jersey Initiatives

Many initiatives undertaken to control concealed carry by the state in the wake of the Bruen decision have fostered support among New Jerseyans, including:

• Requiring firearm safety training courses (92%)
• Mandating permit holders purchase liability insurance to carry a firearm in public (67%)
• Banning the concealed carry of a firearm on private property unless the property owner allows it (67%)
• Banning the concealed carry of a firearm in “sensitive areas” such as schools, hospitals, polling places, beaches, theaters and other public spaces (62%)

The poll found residents were more divided on other topics, including prohibiting permit holders from keeping a loaded firearm in their car with 50% supporting it and 47% opposing it. Despite public approval, a federal judge struck down a gun law written with many of those provisions by the Murphy Administration in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling loosening gun laws last year just last week. 

Demographic Differences Emerge

The poll found Republicans, men, people aged 18 to 34 years old, and those living in the southwestern region of the state were more split on whether they agreed or disagreed with the ruling. These groups were also more divided on firearm owners demonstrating a justifiable need for a concealed carry permit.

Support for requiring firearm safety training courses is widespread, including among Republicans (89%) and firearm owners (92%). Majorities across the board—including just over half of Republicans and firearm owners—support mandating permit holders to purchase liability insurance and banning the concealed carry of a firearm on private property unless allowed by the owner. 

“Throughout our five decades of polling, New Jerseyans, on the whole, have always been supportive of firearm restrictions and regulations,” said Ashley Koning, an assistant research professor and director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling (ECPIP) at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. “As New Jerseyans witnessed at least four mass shootings nationally while this poll was being conducted, and on the heels of multiple active shooter scares throughout the Garden State in recent months, this sentiment remains strong.”

New Jersey and the Second Amendment 

One in five New Jersey residents report some sort of firearm being kept in or around their home, with Republicans (32%), men (26%), people 35 to 49 years old (25%), and those in households making $150,000 or more annually (32%) the top cohorts to report doing so.

Those living in the exurban (28%), southwestern (28%) or Jersey shore (25%) regions were also likely to own a firearm.

The poll was released in the days leading up to the first year anniversary of the Uvalde school shooting. As of May 23, there were 16,651 gun-violence related deaths in the U.S. this year  according to the Gun Violence Archive. The group reported 236 mass shootings and 22 mass murders, with 105 children between the ages of 105 killed and 597 deaths among teens aged 12 to 17.