A federal lawsuit challenging firearm permit denials and weapon confiscations in New Jersey has been expanded to include more residents who claim local officials stripped them of their Second Amendment rights simply because of the people they live with.
The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and the New Jersey Firearms Owners Syndicate filed an amended complaint in the case, Aliaj v. Fort Lee Police Department. Originally filed late last year after Bergen County resident Elsid Aliaj had his firearms confiscated, the lawsuit now includes two additional plaintiffs, Martin Hroncich and Luis Rene De La Cruz Franco.
According to the legal filing, Bergen County officials prevented the plaintiffs from exercising their gun rights based entirely on the grounds that they cohabitated with someone whom officials “had concerns” was prohibited from owning firearms. The lawsuit alleges that none of the plaintiffs themselves are legally disqualified from owning weapons.
“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,” said Bill Sack, SAF’s Senior Director of Legal Operations. “This took the form of permit denials and revocations, and outright gun confiscations. 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.”
The amended complaint targets policies enforced by the Bergen County Police Department and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.
The legal document states that the defendants “have adopted, implemented, enforced, and maintained a series of related policies that together deprive individuals… from exercising their fundamental rights under the Second Amendment, not premised upon any allegation that Plaintiffs themselves are prohibited, but rather by association 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.”
SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb stated that the expansion of the lawsuit aims to address what the organization views as systemic overreach by local authorities.
“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,” Gottlieb said. “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.”
The lawsuit seeks to overturn the permit revocations and halt the county’s policy of denying firearm rights based on cohabitation status.
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