Assembly passes bill to allow retired cops to carry firearms

TRENTON — Legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Parker Space expanding the list of retired law enforcement officers who are eligible to receive a permit to carry a handgun was approved by the Assembly.
The bill adds retired Park Police Officers; special agents of the Division of Taxation; Human Services police officers; New Jersey Transit police officers; campus police officers employed by institutions of higher education; State conservation officers; Palisades Interstate Park police officers; Burlington County Bridge police officers; housing authority police officers; juvenile corrections officers; parole officers; and railway policemen.
“A cop is a cop. They may have retired from their jobs, but not their commitment to ‘protect and serve’,” said Space. “This legislation makes New Jersey more compliant with the federal retired law enforcement concealed carry law commonly known as HR 218 and will make our neighborhoods safer and more comfortable for everybody except criminals.”
In 1997, Gov. Christine Todd Whitman signed a law allowing retired police officers to carry concealed weapons in response to the murder of a retired policeman who attempted to stop a car-jacking at a Newark cemetery.