NJ sues gun shops for selling lethal ammo like it’s ‘a loaf of bread’

🏛 NJ sues 2 gun shops

🏛 Allegedly sold 1,000 rounds of ammo, no ID check

🏛 AG says deadly ammo sold like 'loaf of bread'

TRENTON – New Jersey has filed lawsuits against two gun shops accused of illegally selling large quantities of ammunition and other gun products without any check of ID or permits.

Butch’s Gun World in Vineland and Point Blank Guns and Ammo in East Hanover each failed to meet obligations under the law and to their fellow New Jerseyans, Attorney General Matt Platkin said on Wednesday.

“These stores treated the sale of a thousand rounds of highly lethal ammunition — the kind we see in mass shootings around this country — like they were selling nothing more than a loaf of bread,” Platkin said.

Each store’s sales included selling a 1,000-round case of AR-15 rifle ammunition for cash to undercover investigators, without the buyer showing that they could lawfully possess a firearm.

A box of 1,000 rounds of such ammo retails for between $600 and $700 online.

Platkin slammed the sales as unsafe and irresponsible, adding these suits were aimed at deterring such activity in the future.

The Director of the Statewide Affirmative Firearms Enforcement Office, Ravi Ramanathan, also spoke on Wednesday.

“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 may possess firearms,” Ramanathan said.

The SAFE Office was established in 2022 as a first-in-the-nation office focused on firearms industry accountability.

Earlier this year, investigators from SAFE visited these stores and made cash purchases.

In March, investigators said Butch’s Gun World sold to a first-time customer a 20-round box of .223 caliber ammunition — a high-velocity, military-standard rifle ammunition often used in AR-15-style rifles, as well as a handgun ammunition magazine.

In June, a different salesperson at the Vineland store sold a different first-time customer a 1,000-round case of .223 caliber ammunition, according to state prosecutors.

In March, a salesperson at Point Blank Guns and Ammo sold a handgun ammunition magazine to a first-time buyer, Platkin's office said.

In May, a Point Blank Guns and Ammo salesperson allegedly sold a 1,000-round case of .223 caliber ammunition to a different first-time customer.

During each transaction, the gun store staff did not ask to see any type of identification, permit, or credential of the purchaser.

“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,” Platkin said in a written release.

“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.”

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