So, I was wondering how it works if you move to another part of the state temporary and take out a lease though your permanent address (drivers license and all) stays the same. Basic situation of a student moving to an off-campus apartment in a town within NJ. 

 

Questions:

Would you HAVE to change over your FID?

Can you keep your firearms in the newly-leased apartment though it is not the address slated on FID?

Is there some kind of paperwork which must be filed with the local police department?

 

Sorry if this has been brought up before.  I searched the forum but could not find anything similar.  Thank you in advance for the help.

I guess it all comes down to the definition of "is"    What do you mean by temporary?  Are you living there but still have a residence at say your parent's home?  Obviously you could have two residences.  You need to be a little more specific to your unique situation.

I guess it all comes down to the definition of "is"    What do you mean by temporary?  Are you living there but still have a residence at say your parent's home?  Obviously you could have two residences.  You need to be a little more specific to your unique situation.

 

I try to be careful about the amount of info I put online but I suppose I'm being a little overly tight-lipped this time.

 

Yeah, I still have a residence at my parent's home.  So I do have two residences.  Temporary in this case is a one year lease which will not likely be renewed thereafter.  The new apartment is in a town in a different county.  

Well that is what I was guessing.  Keep in mind I am not a lawyer, don't play one on TV, and have not even stayed at a Holiday Inn Express - so here goes.  I don't see this as being much different than someone that owns a home in Northern NJ and also owns a summer home at the shore.  Since you can only have one FID afaik, I think there is nothing that prohibits you from having your gun at either residence, but I am sure others will chime in. 

Well that is what I was guessing.  Keep in mind I am not a lawyer, don't play one on TV, and have not even stayed at a Holiday Inn Express - so here goes.  I don't see this as being much different than someone that owns a home in Northern NJ and also owns a summer home at the shore.  Since you can only have one FID afaik, I think there is nothing that prohibits you from having your gun at either residence, but I am sure others will chime in. 

 

That's what I was thinking, but wanted to be sure.  Just seems like something that isn't really protected by the laws I've read.  They cover you when travelling to a location where you're allowed to legally possess but there just doesn't seem to be a definitive protection for multiple residences.  Again, this is just going by the law that I've read over.  

 

Thank you for the response.  Btw, I glance at your pics via that link and I have to say that you have taken some awesome shots.  If you aren't a professional, you have fooled me sir

Thanks, guess I have you fooled then as I am just a hobby photographer.

Here's some perspective:

 

First, once you have the FID, you have it till it is taken away.  And to take it away requires a court order, i.e. a New Jersey Judge has to hold a hearing and hear evidence and decide you are legally disqualified from having it.  So you were issued it, you have it, that's it.

 

Second, back in the 80s when my dad moved, he went to the police in the new town he moved to, and they told him his old one was good, that he didn't even need to get a new one.  He never got a new one.  He moved out of state in the 90s.  I don't think the law has changed since then.  Maybe someone could speak up if they can point to a law that says oherwise.

 

What has changed since then?  At some point, dealers started requiring the address on your NJDL and your NJFID to match before they would sell you a rifle or shotgun, so if you moved, you needed to get a new card from your new town so the addresses on your NJDL and NJFID matched.  I think the NJSP required that of dealers.  That's why everyone reapplies with their new town police when they move instead of just keeping their old cards.

 

But you aren't moving out of your permanent residence, you are just temporarily staying somewhere else for a while because you are a student, and will return back to your permanent residence afterward.  You have two residences.  Your permanent address stays constant.  Just because you sleep elsewhere doesn't mean your permanent address is no good.  You still are entitled to stay there.  You still receive mail there.  You just have two addresses for a while.

 

So keep your permanent address on your drivers license.  If your DL has your permanent address, and your FID is issued by the same town PD as your permanent address, then you should be good.  Why change your DL address if you are temporarily somewhere and your permanent address is also good?  Keep your DL with your permanent address, in the same town as the town that issued your FID.  Then there's no problem.

 

If you are looking at it as whether you can have rifles or shotguns with you at your temp address, you can have those with you wherever you are in the state as a FID holder as long as they are unloaded.  PLUS you can have them, LOADED, in your residence - in any of your residences, or on property you own, by statute, regardless of whether you have a FID or not.  Same with pistols.  The law even recognizes you can have two residences - after all there is an exemption allowing transport between two residences, isn't there?

 

So basically, if you have a permanent address that is constant, and are temporarily staying somewhere else, I don't see why you would want to apply for a new card.  There's no point.  It doesn't make a difference with regard to buying, and it doesn't make a difference with regard to possession.

 

Theoretically, if you were returning from the range to your temp address with handguns in the car, and a cop pulled you over, and your DL address was very far away, you would have to explain to the police officer that you are traveling to your temporary address, and not the address on your drivers license, in order to substantiate that you are traveling from range to home under the exemption.  No big deal.  Many people have more than one address.  You could keep a copy of your temp residence lease with you, so you can show him.  Your DL address is your permanent address.  Your lease shows one additional address where you are staying temporarily.  Both residences are residences of yours.

(A lot of words)

 

Thanks.  Very nice of you to sum everything up.  Everything you wrote makes sense and I think the point about keeping a copy of my lease with me will help me feel a bit more comfortable.  I can't afford to have anything on my record and it has remained crystal clear up till this point (not even a single motor vehicle violation) so I try to be cautious.