$500 Annual Fee for Concealed Carry?

NJ State Senator Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May) has proposed a bill "to make it easier for New Jersey residents to carry handguns, and he thinks the state can make some money in the process." Currently, you must show "justifiable need" to get a concealed carry permit in New Jersey.

According to the details of his bill, an applicant would have to pass a criminal background check including fingerprinting, take a NJ Police Training Commission approved course in the safe use, storage, and maintenance of a firearm, take a marksmanship qualification test, take another State Police Superintendent approved class on the lawful use of force and justifiable use of a firearm, and then pay an annual fee of $500 for the privilege of carrying concealed.

For this deviation from the party line, Van Drew has been accused by Bryan Miller, the Executive Director of NJ Ceasefire of  "kowtowing to the pro-gun forces of darkness who want to turn this country into an armed society". I love that phrase - pro-gun forces of darkness. I can just see the T-shirts now.

According to the article at NJ.com, this bill has only a long-shot for passage.

I'm not sure what galls me more - the $500 annual fee so a bankrupt state can meet its pension obligations or that the proponent of a concealed carry bill with incredibly onerous requirements and fees can be thought to be "kowtowing to the pro-gun forces of darkness."

A proper Kowtow

H/T Cemetary's Gun Blob