Legal landscape note: This article was originally published in 2018 and describes the law as it stood at that time. New Jersey law changes frequently -- contact us to discuss how the current law applies to your situation.
You drove into New Jersey with a firearm that was perfectly legal where you bought it, and now you are holding a weapons charge. It happens more often than you might think, and the stakes are real: New Jersey's penalties for firearm and weapon violations are harsher than those of many other states, and a conviction can follow you into every job application, school admission, and housing search.
In many of these circumstances, you’ll either be charged with a third-degree crime or a fourth-degree criminal act. Although if it’s combined with other criminal acts as an armed robbery, the degree can be lower and carry far greater consequences.
What To Do
You might think that trying to work it out with the prosecutor is the right thing to do, when in fact, it’s the worst option.
Hiring a Public Defender
Hiring a public defender may also sound good since it’s at no cost to you. While that factor is beneficial, public defenders often resort to plea deals which leave you with a lengthy criminal record.
Instead, we encourage you to enlist in aid of a private law firm with extensive criminal weapons violation experience like the criminal defense lawyers serving Somerset County, NJ and beyond, Simon Law Group.
A majority of our clients were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe you were transporting weapons between states, unaware that it was illegal. Perhaps you discharged a firearm in a way deemed improper according to police officers. However, this is not always the case and more serious offenses occur.
We can also represent people charged with armed assaults, shootings, property break-ins and frequently other violations that can land you in prison for the foreseeable future. Robbery or burglary convictions typically carry a five-year prison sentence, but it can certainly be longer in some instances.
In New Jersey, punishment for gun and weapons crimes are far more severe than that of many other states in our nation. Here at Simon Law Group, the criminal defense lawyers serving Hunterdon County, we have extensive knowledge of these violations, and can therefore provide the representation our clients need when charged with any type of weapons crime throughout New Jersey.