Former Truck Driver Who Upset New Jersey Senate President Introduces Bills to Expand Gun Rights

New Jersey State Senator Edward Durr, a Republican who decided to run for office last year after he was denied a concealed carry permit, recently proposed several bills to expand gun rights in the state.

“We know there’s a slim chance in hell of them passing, but I’ve always subscribed to the belief that a question not asked is going to get the same answer. So you might as well ask,” he told the New Jersey Monitor. “Let’s put it this way – last year, everybody was saying there was no shot in hell for Ed Durr to be a senator. So I will never say never to nothing.”

Durr, a truck driver who shook up the state’s politics last year when he defeated longtime Senate President Steve Sweeney after spending just $15o on his campaign, announced plans last week to introduce a 15-bill package “to advance safe, responsible firearm ownership for law abiding citizens.”

One of the proposals would see New Jersey pay $1 million for high school students to launch gun clubs and for schools to teach about gun safety.

The freshman senator, who told the Monitor he owns several firearms for self-defense, also proposed a bill that would eliminate a state measure that restricts ammunition magazines to ten rounds. The measure would decriminalize the use of large-capacity magazines and remove several firearms from the state’s list of firearms that are considered assault weapons, including semi-automatic shotguns and rifles.

Among Durr’s proposals are measures to allow active duty members of the U.S. military to carry a firearm at all times and to allow honorably discharged veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces or National Guard to carry handguns.

He has also proposed a bill to end a gun owner’s duty to retreat before using deadly force in self-defense, as required by state law, while a separate proposal would remove restrictions on BB guns and decriminalize the purchase, possession, and transfer of armor-piercing ammunition and firearms with sound and flash suppressors, as well as those without serial numbers.

He told the New Jersey Monitor his proposals come from his own desire to get a concealed-carry permit, as well as from feedback from constituents and gun advocates.

“I won’t lie — a lot of the gun bills were just to put them there, and let’s see which one slips through, because they are just stealing law-abiding citizens’ rights left and right. And it’s got to stop,” Durr said.

The proposals come as Governor Phil Murphy advocated this week for state lawmakers to pass a package of bills intended to strengthen the state’s gun laws. The package failed to pass last year, but Murphy urged lawmakers to act in the wake of the Buffalo supermarket shooting that left ten people dead and three others injured.

“This is another mournful week in America,” Murphy said on Monday, according to the report. “How many more people have to senselessly die before we wake up? How many more have to senselessly die before we come to our senses? Common sense gun safety now!”