NJ Governor Wants To Punish Low-Income Gun Owners With Insane New Fees

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D) wants to significantly increase the cost of owning a gun in the state - proposing fees that would be among the highest in the country, according to the New York Times. 

Currently, a firearm identification costs $5, a permit to own a gun $2, and a permit to carry a gun costs just $20. Murphy wants to raise that to $100 for the ID, $50 to own a gun and $400 to carry. In addition, Murphy wants to slap a 10% excise tax on ammunition and a 2.5% firearms excise tax. 

The proposals are part of the state budget which must be passed by June 30. 

The new fees would - as they always do - disproportionately punish low-income, law-abiding, mostly minority gun owners who wish to defend themselves and their families in high-crime areas. 

While Murphy lives in mostly white Princeton, NJ - which has an average income of $125,000 and virtually no violent crime, residents of predominantly black Asbury Park - with an average income of $37,737 (2016) and more than double the national crime rate, would be much harder pressed to come up with the extra $523 to legally defend themselves. 

Murphy claims that there is no "war on responsible gun owners," and that the funds raised from the fee hike would go towards anti-violence initiatives. 

"We can support the efforts of the attorney general, state troopers, county and local law enforcement, to do the stuff we need to do: track crime, track gun violence, combat trafficking of illegal guns," Murphy added.