The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), joined by New Jersey Firearms Owners Syndicate, have expanded a lawsuit challenging the unlawful revocation and denial of permits as well as confiscation of firearms from multiple residents in New Jersey.
The case, Aliaj v. Fort Lee Police Department, was originally filed late last year after the confiscation of plaintiff Elsid Aliaj's firearms. The amended complaint expands the case to add plaintiffs Martin Hroncich and Luis Rene De La Cruz Franco, who faced similar confiscations and permit denials and revocations in Bergen County, N.J. In each of the Plaintiff's instances, Bergen County officials prevented them from exercising their Second Amendment rights based solely on the grounds that they lived with someone officials "had concerns" were prohibited from owning firearms.
"Bergen County's very clear policy is: If you live with a prohibited person, or even someone suspected of being prohibited, your rights can be taken away. This took the form of permit denials and revocations, and outright gun confiscations," said SAF Senior Director of Legal Operations Bill Sack. "What we learned after filing this case on behalf of Mr. Aliaj is that the constitutional abuse he suffered was all too common in Bergen County. Additional individuals, including new plaintiffs Mr. Hroncich and Mr. De La Cruz started coming out of the woodwork. Each had a similar story: their rights under the Second Amendment were taken from them purely as the result of concerns Bergen County officials had about loved ones of theirs."
As the amended complaint states, "…Defendants have adopted, implemented, enforced, and maintained a series of related policies that together deprive individuals, including plaintiffs, under County Defendants' jurisdiction, from exercising their fundamental rights under the Second Amendment, not premised upon any allegation that Plaintiffs themselves are prohibited, but rather byassociation with a cohabitant who is so prohibited or otherwise disqualified, or by association with a cohabitant who County Defendants perceive to be so prohibited or otherwise disqualified."
"Cases like this confirm what we hear from SAF members in gun-grabbing states like New Jersey all the time: local officials do what they want, when they want, without any respect for the law or the Constitution," said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. "We were excited to initially bring this case on behalf of our member Mr. Aliaj, and we are now thrilled to expand the case to further highlight how extensive, insidious and unconstitutional the policies of the Bergen County Police Department and Prosecutor's Office really are."
For more information visit SAF.org.
The Second Amendment Foundation (saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group dedicated to safeguarding and promoting the fundamental rights of individuals enshrined in the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. SAF engages in aggressive legal action to ensure the principles of armed self-defense, personal liberty, and the ownership of arms are defended, secured, and restored. Through public education initiatives, SAF teaches the importance of the Second Amendment to promote a society that values and exercises the right to keep and bear arms.