Bergen County Gun Crime Lawyer

Bergen County Gun Crime Lawyer

You got arrested with a gun in Bergen County. Maybe police found a handgun in your car during a traffic stop in Paramus. Maybe you had a firearm at your home in Fort Lee without the proper New Jersey permits. Maybe you’re from Pennsylvania or New York with a legal carry permit from your home state, thought that permit worked in New Jersey, and got pulled over on Route 4. Now you’re facing charges under N.J.S.A. 2C:39-5 for unlawful possession of a weapon, and someone mentioned the Graves Act – mandatory minimum prison time even for first offenders.

Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group. We’re a second-generation law firm managed by Todd Spodek, with over 50 years combined experience defending gun cases in New Jersey and New York. We handle weapons charges in Bergen County Superior Court. This article explains New Jersey’s gun laws, why they’re among the strictest in the nation, how the Graves Act’s mandatory minimum sentencing works, and why out-of-state gun owners face prosecution even when their permits are valid in their home states.

Second-Degree Crime With Presumption of Imprisonment

Unlawful possession of a handgun without a New Jersey permit is a second-degree crime under N.J.S.A. 2C:39-5. Second-degree carries five to ten years state prison. But what makes New Jersey gun charges particularly harsh is the presumption of incarceration – the statute presumes you go to prison even if you have no prior criminal record, even if you’re a law-abiding gun owner from another state who didn’t realize New Jersey doesn’t recognize out-of-state permits.

Most criminal charges have a presumption of non-incarceration for first-time offenders – judges can sentence you to probation if appropriate. Not gun charges. The law presumes prison unless you can overcome that presumption, which requires showing extraordinary circumstances. We’ve defended cases where doctors, lawyers, business owners with zero criminal history faced mandatory prison time because they transported a legally owned firearm through New Jersey without understanding the permit requirements.

Possession of a rifle or shotgun without a firearms purchaser identification card is a third-degree crime – three to five years state prison. Still serious, still carries mandatory minimum under Graves Act if the weapon was possessed unlawfully. The degree of the crime depends on the type of weapon, but all gun charges in New Jersey trigger the same fundamental problem: mandatory sentencing that eliminates judicial discretion to consider individual circumstances.

The Graves Act – 42 Months Before Parole

The Graves Act, codified at N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6(c), imposes mandatory minimum prison sentences for gun offenses. If convicted, you must serve at least 42 months (three and a half years) before becoming eligible for parole. This applies to first-time offenders with no criminal history. The judge can’t sentence you to probation, can’t give you county jail, can’t order home detention. The statute requires state prison, requires you serve at least 42 months before even being considered for parole.

Bergen County prosecutors take gun cases seriously because of the Graves Act. They know defendants face mandatory prison, they know that creates leverage in plea negotiations. We’ve handled cases where the prosecutor offered Graves Act waiver as part of a plea deal – defendant pleads guilty to third-degree unlawful possession, prosecutor consents to waiver, judge sentences to probationary term or reduced mandatory minimum of one year instead of 42 months. But waivers aren’t automatic, they’re discretionary, and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office only grants them when specific criteria are met.

Graves Act waiver eligibility requires: first-time offender, no prior gun convictions, no violent criminal history, circumstances that suggest lack of criminal intent. If you’re from Pennsylvania with a valid carry permit and got arrested at a traffic stop because the officer asked if you had weapons and you truthfully disclosed your legally owned handgun, that’s potentially waivable. But if you have prior arrests even if not convictions, if the gun was loaded and accessible rather than properly secured, if there were drugs or other contraband in the vehicle, prosecutors are less likely to consent to waiver.

Out-of-State Permit Holders – No Reciprocity

New Jersey does not recognize concealed carry permits from any other state. Pennsylvania issues permits. New York issues permits. Florida, Texas, every other state – their permits mean nothing in New Jersey. We defend multiple cases every year where someone from Pennsylvania drives to New Jersey for work or to visit family, gets pulled over for speeding or expired registration, officer asks if there are weapons in the vehicle, driver says yes I have my Glock in the glove box here’s my Pennsylvania carry permit – and gets arrested for second-degree unlawful possession.

The out-of-state permit doesn’t provide any legal defense. It might help convince the prosecutor to recommend Graves Act waiver because it demonstrates you’re a responsible gun owner, not a criminal. But legally, possessing a handgun in New Jersey without a New Jersey permit violates N.J.S.A. 2C:39-5 regardless of what permits you hold from other jurisdictions. This isn’t a misunderstanding the police can sort out at the scene – they’re required to arrest you, transport you to the station for processing, and charge you with a second-degree crime.

New Jersey changed to “shall issue” concealed carry permitting in 2022 after the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision forced the state to stop requiring “justifiable need” for permits. Now New Jersey must issue permits to qualified applicants, making it theoretically possible for out-of-state residents to get New Jersey permits before traveling here. But the application process takes months, requires training, involves extensive background checks – most people traveling through New Jersey for legitimate purposes don’t know they need a separate permit, don’t have time to obtain one even if they knew.

Possession for Unlawful Purpose – Enhanced Charges

If prosecutors believe you possessed the gun with intent to use it unlawfully – during commission of another crime, for threatening someone, for drug trafficking – they charge possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose under N.J.S.A. 2C:39-4. This is a second-degree crime separate from unlawful possession, carrying its own five to ten year sentence that runs consecutive to the possession charge. So you could face 10 to 20 years total exposure: five to ten for possession, five to ten for unlawful purpose, both with Graves Act mandatory minimums.

Bergen County prosecutors add unlawful purpose charges when guns are found during drug arrests, domestic violence incidents, or situations involving threats. If police respond to a domestic disturbance call and find a gun in the home, even if it’s legally owned by someone in the household who has proper permits, if there’s any allegation that the gun was brandished or threatened during the argument, that becomes possession for unlawful purpose. The burden shifts to you to prove the gun wasn’t possessed for an unlawful purpose once the prosecution establishes you had access to it during the alleged incident.

Transportation Requirements and “Authorized Locations”

New Jersey law allows transporting firearms between certain authorized locations – your home, target ranges, hunting sites, places of business where you’re authorized to possess weapons. But transportation must follow strict requirements: unloaded, locked in a case, secured in the trunk. If the gun is loaded, if it’s in the passenger compartment rather than the trunk, if the ammunition is stored with the gun rather than separately, prosecutors argue you weren’t transporting it properly and charge unlawful possession.

We’ve defended cases where someone was driving from their home to a shooting range – clearly an authorized purpose – but had the gun case on the back seat instead of in the trunk because their trunk was full of other items. Prosecutor charged unlawful possession despite the legitimate transportation purpose because the statute requires trunk storage. These technicalities matter, New Jersey courts interpret gun laws strictly against defendants, judges rarely excuse technical violations even when the overall purpose was lawful.

Defenses Beyond Graves Act Waivers

Challenging the search that led to gun discovery is often the strongest defense. If police lacked probable cause to search your vehicle, if they exceeded the scope of a consent search, if they searched your home without a valid warrant, the gun evidence gets suppressed and charges dismissed. Fourth Amendment protections apply to gun cases same as drug cases – police must have legal justification for the search that discovers the weapon.

Bergen County police departments conduct frequent traffic stops that turn into weapons arrests. Officer stops you for minor violation, asks for consent to search, you consent thinking you have nothing to hide, he finds your Pennsylvania-legal handgun. We challenge whether consent was truly voluntary or coerced through threats of getting drug dogs or detaining you indefinitely. We review dashcam footage to see if officer’s justification for the initial stop was legitimate. Sometimes the stop itself was pretextual – officer didn’t really pull you over for the stated violation, he pulled you over for investigatory purposes and fabricated the traffic justification.

At Spodek Law Group – we’ve defended hundreds of gun cases in Bergen County Superior Court and negotiated Graves Act waivers when circumstances warranted leniency. Todd Spodek has tried weapons possession cases before Bergen County judges and challenged searches that violated constitutional protections. If you’re facing gun charges in Bergen County, call us at 212-300-5196. The 42-month mandatory minimum makes these cases too serious to handle without experienced representation, and early intervention in negotiations with the prosecutor’s office can make the difference between prison and probation.