Opinion
DOCKET NO. A-3453-12T3
05-08-2014
IN RE APPLICATION OF JEFFREY M. ANDERSON.
Matthew B. Lun, attorney for appellant. Anthony P. Kearns, III, Hunterdon County Prosecutor, attorney for respondent State of New Jersey (Jeffrey L. Weinstein, Assistant Prosecutor, of counsel and on the brief.
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE
APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
Before Judges Simonelli and Fasciale.
On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Hunterdon County.
Matthew B. Lun, attorney for appellant.
Anthony P. Kearns, III, Hunterdon County Prosecutor, attorney for respondent State of New Jersey (Jeffrey L. Weinstein, Assistant Prosecutor, of counsel and on the brief. PER CURIAM
Appellant Jeffrey M. Anderson appeals from the February 21, 2013 Law Division order, which denied his appeal of the denial of his application for a Firearms Purchaser Identification Card (FPIC) and two Handgun Purchase Permits (permits). We affirm.
The facts are straightforward. In 1997, defendant was convicted in Iowa of driving while under the influence of alcohol (DWI), Iowa Code § 321J.2 (1986 & Supp. 1996). In 2012, he applied for a FPIC and two permits, and disclosed his Iowa DWI conviction. The Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police denied the application based on the Iowa conviction, concluding that a DWI offense in Iowa equated to a crime in New Jersey that disqualified appellant pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:58-3c(1).
Appellant argued on appeal before the trial judge, as he does here, that the Superintendent improperly deemed the Iowa DWI a disqualifying crime under N.J.S.A. 2C:58-3c(1). Appellant asserted that the proper test is whether the offense, if committed in New Jersey, is a crime; since DWI is not a crime in New Jersey, he was not disqualified under N.J.S.A. 39:4-50(a)(1). We disagree.
Appellant cites In re Application of Hart, 265 N.J. Super. 285 (Law Div. 1993) to support his argument. That case, however, is not binding on us. S & R Assocs. v. Lynn Realty Corp., 338 N.J. Super. 350, 355 (App. Div. 2001).
N.J.S.A. 2C:58-3c(1) precludes anyone who has been convicted of a crime from acquiring a FPIC. Although N.J.S.A. 2C:58-3c(1) does not define "crime," appellant concedes that a "crime" is determined by whether the authorized sentence exceeds six months. See N.J.S.A. 2C:1-4a (defining "crime" as an offense "for which a sentence of imprisonment in excess of six months is authorized").
An out-of-state offense is a crime under N.J.S.A. 2C:58-3c(1) if the authorized sentence of imprisonment in the jurisdiction where the offense was committed is in excess of six months. State v. G.P.N., 321 N.J. Super. 172, 175-76 (App. Div. 1999) (citing N.J.S.A. 2C:44-4c). Appellant concedes that DWI is a crime in Iowa. Accordingly, appellant's Iowa DWI offense constitutes a crime that disqualifies him pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:58-3c(1).
N.J.S.A. 2C:44-4c provides that "[a] conviction in another jurisdiction shall constitute a prior conviction of a crime if a sentence of imprisonment in excess of [six] months was authorized under the law of the other jurisdiction."
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Affirmed.
I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the original on file in my office.
CLERK OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION