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Read. Follow. Verify.New Jersey Bill A960 Requires Immediate Family Firearm Transfers Through Licensed Dealers
Last action · January 13, 2026: Introduced, Referred to Assembly Judiciary CommitteeSponsor: Carol Murphy
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What This Bill Would Do
Assemblywoman Carol A. Murphy introduced New Jersey Bill A960 to eliminate the immediate-family exemption for private firearm transfers, requiring all handgun, rifle, and shotgun transfers between family members to go through a licensed retail firearms dealer. Under the proposed measure, the dealer must conduct a prior to completing the transaction.
Residents seeking to gift, sell, or transfer firearms to close relatives like parents, children, or siblings must use a licensed dealer, pay any applicable retail fees, and subject the recipient to a formal background check that was previously bypassed under the family exemption.
- New Jersey maintains strict firearm licensing laws, which historically included a specific exemption allowing unmediated transfers between immediate family members. context
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Immediate family members
Family members seeking to transfer firearms to one another must now route the transaction through a licensed retail dealer and undergo background checks.
Licensed retail firearm dealers
Dealers are required to process immediate family firearm transfers, conduct background checks, submit confirmation forms to the Superintendent of State Police, and maintain transaction records.
Superintendent of State Police
The superintendent receives identification and confirmation forms regarding background checks from retail dealers for these transactions.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this bill change how I buy a firearm from a licensed dealer?
Will background checks be required for family firearm transfers under this bill?
Are family transfer records open to the public?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently in committee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.
Procedural history
1 action- Jan 13, 2026HouseIntroducedIntroduced, Referred to Assembly Judiciary Committee
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Removal of Immediate Family Exemption
The bill explicitly strikes out the longstanding provision exempting immediate family members from conducting firearm transfers through a licensed dealer.
Connected Entities
Sources
njleg.state.nj.us
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance65How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy80Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz40Current news / social attention level
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