Gun dealers breaking NJ laws let criminals get weapons, Attorney General says

🔴 Gun dealers are accused of recklessly or intentionally breaking NJ gun laws

🔴 These illegally acquired guns have been used in crimes, officials say

🔴 The lawsuits were filed NJ's first-in-the-nation SAFE office

TRENTON — Gun dealers selling to New Jersey residents, recklessly or intentionally, disregarded state regulations and allowed firearms to fall into the hands of criminals, according to a pair of lawsuits filed by the Attorney General's Office.

The lawsuits filed against FFS Armory in Morris County and JSD Supply and Eagle Shows in Pennsylvania seek monetary damages and injunctive relief.

They're the first legal action taken by the state since Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law in 2022 creating the Statewide Affirmative Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Office with the mandate of suing gun companies.

"We putting everyone else in the gun industry on notice. If you break our laws, we're coming for you. The days of allowing you to profit unlawfully off of violence in our communities are over," Attorney General Matthew Platkin said.

Thieves target illegally stored guns

FFS Armory, a licensed gun dealer in Morris County, left out unsecured weapons on its sales floor next to a window, Platkin said. State law requires that guns can't be kept in any space visible from the outside and must be stored securely.

Images of the sales floor posted to Google showed the stack of guns. FFS Armory then posted those images on its website and they were still up as of Tuesday afternoon.

On Jan. 6, a group of thieves then searched online for "gun stores in NJ" and FFS Armory appeared in the search results. They went to the store in Pine Brook, broke the window, and stole 20 guns.

Luis Martinez, 35, formerly of Newark, was sentenced in late October to 11 years in state prison for his role in the burglary, according to the Morris County Prosecutor's Office. Another person, Leila Acevedo, was charged in September in connection to the stolen guns but authorities said other members of the group remain unidentified.

Many of the stolen guns have not been found. The ones that have been located turned up in the hands of criminals or at crime scenes, Platkin said.

Pennsylvania dealer sells "ghost guns" to NJ buyers

The other lawsuit, filed in Mercer County, accuses the owner of a Pennsylvania gun dealer and gun show of targeting New Jersey buyers looking to circumvent the state's gun laws.

Platkin said JSD Supply, located around 40 miles north of Pittsburgh, sold parts for so-called ghost guns to New Jersey residents at Eagle Shows gun shows.

Ghost guns, which are illegal in New Jersey, are firearms without serial numbers that cannot be tracked. They can be assembled by anyone who buys parts from a seller.

JSD Supply and Eagle Shows are both owned by Jordan Vinroe, who has received national media attention for his businesses.

Billboards advertising the gun shows in the Philadelphia area were seen along New Jersey roads and Vinroe has said New Jersey residents are prime customers for ghost gun parts, Platkin said.

"Unsurprisingly, New Jersey law enforcement have arrested numerous individuals in possession of significant numbers of ghost guns purchased at Eagle gun shows. And ghost guns that appear to have JSD frames have recovered in multiple crimes," Platkin said.

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