TRENTON – Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced the filing of civil lawsuits against two licensed New Jersey firearms retailers for repeatedly selling gun-related products to undercover investigators without the buyer demonstrating that they could lawfully possess a firearm. The stores are Butch’s Gun World in Vineland and Point Blank Guns and Ammo LLC in East Hanover. Each store’s sales included selling a 1,000-round case of AR-15 rifle ammunition for cash. Such unsafe and irresponsible sales are unlawful, and these suits aim to deter such conduct in the future.
Today’s actions enforce compliance with this important requirement, which protects the public against threats and gun violence by persons who acquire gun-related products even though they cannot lawfully possess them. Such persons include, though are not limited to, persons with prior felony convictions, persons prohibited from having firearms pursuant to domestic violence restraining orders, those on terrorist watch lists, persons who were previously confined for mental health disorders, and more.
“Keeping guns out of the wrong hands is a critical public safety priority. That is why the Legislature required New Jersey’s gun industry to adopt meaningful measures to avoid selling ammunition and other gun-related products to people who cannot legally possess a gun,” said Attorney General Platkin. “The compliance requirements this law imposes are no different from the types of demands we place on other industries that create a hazard to human health, and we will enforce our law.”
“Almost a year ago, we put the gun industry on notice with our first actions under the 2022 legislation. That law requires anyone selling gun-related parts, including ammunition, to take steps to ensure that they are selling only to those legally permitted to possess firearms,” said Ravi Ramanathan, Director of the Statewide Affirmative Firearms Enforcement Office (SAFE). “We were disappointed to find not one, but two, gun shops selling cases of AR-15 ammunition for cash without first verifying that the buyers can lawfully possess firearms.”
Earlier this year, investigators from SAFE visited these stores and made purchases with cash.
- In March 2024, Butch’s Gun World sold a 20-round box of .223 caliber ammunition—a high-velocity, military-standard rifle ammunition often used in AR-15-style rifles—and a handgun ammunition magazine to a first-time customer.
- In June 2024, a different Butch’s salesperson sold a 1,000-round case of .223 caliber ammunition to a different first-time customer.
- In March 2024, a salesperson at Point Blank Guns and Ammo sold a handgun ammunition magazine to a first-time buyer.
- In May 2024, a Point Blank Guns and Ammo salesperson sold a 1,000-round case of .223 caliber ammunition to a different first-time customer.
In each instance, the stores did not ask to see any type of identification, permit, or credential of the purchaser. Instead, the stores made sales—including of vast quantities of lethal ammunition for cash—without any apparent steps to exclude sales to prohibited firearms possessors.
These matters are being handled by Deputy Attorneys General Jonathan Mangel, Giancarlo Piccinini, Loren Miller, and Honors Law Clerk Andrea Cavazos, under the supervision of Assistant Attorney General David Leit, of the Special Litigation Section within the Division of Law’s Affirmative Civil Enforcement Practice Group.
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SAFE is a first-in-the-nation office focused on firearms industry accountability. The SAFE Office was established by Attorney General Platkin in 2022 to exercise the Attorney General’s authority under the firearms public nuisance legislation, P.L. 2022, c. 56, and to facilitate the efficient and effective administration of laws pertaining to gun violence.