Staff Reports
Gun Owners of America (GOA) and the Coalition of New Jersey Firearm Owners have pulled the legal trigger on a lawsuit that challenges New Jersey’s baffling ban on hollow point ammunition. Recognized nationwide as one of the most nonsensical gun control measures, this law leaves honest citizens scrambling to defend themselves with inferior full metal jacket rounds while allowing the more effective hollow points to be hoarded at home like some forbidden treasure.
Under this ludicrous law, New Jerseyans aren’t allowed to carry hollow point ammo outside their homes. However, residents can indulge in these self-defense tools within their own dwellings. A quick moment of common sense will reveal the absurdity here: criminals aren’t likely to call a timeout on their schemes just because they don’t have the right kind of ammunition. Meanwhile, law-abiding citizens are left unprotected and armed with ammunition that’s ill-suited for self-defense. Score one for the criminals and a big fat zero for the Garden State’s lawmakers.
Gun Owners of America Files Lawsuit Challenging the Dumbest Firearm Law In the Nation https://t.co/uYjCd0HkG6
— Observing Time (@TimeObserving) February 5, 2025
This is where GOA comes in, arguing that the laws limiting citizens’ ammunition types are unconstitutional and utterly irrelevant in keeping New Jerseyans safe. After all, the prominent anti-gun politicians have forgotten a critical fact: self-defense is an enumerated right. As such, the burden of safely defending oneself shouldn’t be compounded by draconian regulations that do nothing to prevent crime but rather make victims out of good citizens.
The lawsuit takes aim at the notion that New Jersey’s laws meet the standards set by the Supreme Court in cases like New York Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. This lawsuit highlights that hollow point ammunition is a widely accepted form of self-defense, often endorsed by law enforcement. The emphasis here is that while the state can dictate which toppings you want on your bagel, it shouldn’t dictate the type of ammunition that should enter your concealed carry. It’s laughable that New Jersey is in the minority of states that criminalizes the mere act of carrying hollow point ammunition—one might think they’ve mistaken their role for that of a punishing parent instead of serving their constituents.
Furthermore, discussions surrounding public safety and the efficacy of self-defense ammunition often miss an important point. If one were forced to defend against an attacker using full metal jacket rounds, this leads to a considerable risk of the projectile going through the target and striking innocent bystanders—good grief! Hollow points, on the other hand, are designed to expand upon impact and remain in the target, ultimately increasing the chances of quickly neutralizing a threat while minimizing collateral damage. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that selecting proper ammunition can help save lives.
In addition, a tragic case involving a woman named Carol Bowne, who was murdered by her abusive ex-boyfriend in 2017 after being stalled by New Jersey’s slow-moving gun permit process, serves as a dire warning. While she was navigating the cumbersome legalities of gun ownership, her life was taken far too soon. This case exemplifies how overreaching laws not only fail to protect citizens but actively put them at greater risk. Rather than learning from such incidents, New Jersey politicians seem content to wield more misguided regulations like a blunt instrument against those they ought to protect.
In summation, this battle over hollow point ammunition is more than an issue of firearm rights; it’s a paradox of sensibility amid absurdity. The ineffective regulations show just how detached some politicians are from the real-world consequences of their laws. Gun control advocates need to recognize that, rather than protect the innocent, their policies endanger them. New Jersey may need to rethink its stance on ammo and self-defense before it finds itself at the wrong end of another tragic statistic.
