A New Jersey judge has blocked the state from enforcing a draconian new law that makes it effectively illegal to carry a concealed firearm in public. 

Judge Renee Marie Bumb wrote that the state has "no interest in enforcing unconstitutional laws" in a 46-page opinion limiting the number of "sensitive places" where the state can ban citizens from carrying firearms.

Draconian gun bill challenged

New Jersey's Democratic governor Phil Murphy signed the bill in response to the Supreme Court's decision last year in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, which invalidated licensing schemes that required applicants to have a special reason to carry.

Progressive Democrats in states like New Jersey and New York fired back with sweeping gun bans that declared most public areas "sensitive" locations where it is illegal to carry a firearm.

In New Jersey, those "sensitive places" include a private vehicle, unless the gun is unloaded and stowed away in the trunk or a gun case. The law's restrictions apply even to licensed carriers.

As an added burden, the law also requires permit carriers to buy liability insurance.

"Unconstitutional"

Judge Bumb found that many of Murphy's restrictions did not meet the test laid down in Bruen, which burdens the state with proving that a firearm regulation is consistent with historical tradition.

Following Bruen, Bumb wrote that gun restrictions are "uncontroversial" in some areas like schools, government buildings, polling places, and locations tied to them, like playgrounds.

But the judge struck down bans in places like beaches, public parks, recreational facilities, libraries, museums, and casinos as unduly restrictive.

“Defendants cannot demonstrate a history of firearm regulation to support these challenged provisions for which they have demonstrated Article III standing....and neither the State nor the public has an interest in enforcing unconstitutional laws,” Bumb wrote in the ruling.

Tyranny rebuked

The judge also upheld the right to carry in bars and restaurants, entertainment facilities, and private vehicles. Gun owners are presumptively permitted to take firearms onto private property, unless the owner says otherwise, the judge ruled.

The New Jersey Second Amendment Society said they were "ecstatic that once again we are able to carry in public."

Governor Murphy said he was "disappointed" that the court overturned so-called "common-sense" restrictions.

Of course, the left has been talking about "common sense gun control" for years. Now we know what they meant, and it looks an awful lot like tyranny.