On Tuesday, November 25, 2025, Howell, N.J., joined 11 other municipalities in sending Trenton a simple message: “Don’t tread on me!” The movement? A grassroots permit-to-carry fee nullification initiative.
In the wake of NYSRPA v. Bruen, the New Jersey legislature and Governor Phil Murphy lashed out in a panic. They could not handle that the U.S. Supreme Court said: “The peasants shall be allowed to have their pitchforks.” The response was a bill that completely gutted the spirit of the Bruen decision — but did allow the granting of permits to carry. One of the provisions increased the cost of permits to carry to $200.00. Seizing an opportunity to fire back, towns have begun nullifying some of the onerous fees.
The application process for a permit to carry involves quite a bit, but they’re obtainable. As of this reporting, there are now 62,149 current permit-to-carry holders in New Jersey. There are training requirements, background checks (and check fees), fingerprinting, and one must be in possession of a New Jersey firearms identification card.
The state imposed a $200.00 fee that gets divided up. $50.00 goes to the state for a victims’ compensation fund — applicants are enjoined from paying this due to a federal court ruling. $150.00 is earmarked and payable directly to individual municipalities for their general coffers.
In June, a first-in-the-nation move involved Englishtown Mayor Daniel Francisco. Francisco and his council raised and passed a resolution that would refund the $150.00 portion of the fee back to applicants. The resolution observed the unconstitutional nature of the fee.
Those actions during the Englishtown resolution introduction attracted the interest of gun rights organizations. Seeing that a grassroots movement was building, the New Jersey Firearms Owners Syndicate, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action all joined forces to aid their members in passing similar resolutions in a unified manner.
Since the passage of the first resolution, 11 other municipalities have followed suit. Of those 11 municipalities, two of them passed ordinances, making a change to their actual laws.
Howell, N.J., is the most recent and largest town to join the fight. While Howell did not pass a full refund resolution, they are refunding $125.00 of the $150.00 fee back to applicants. This was addressed by Howell Councilman Ian Nadel, who led the formalization of the resolution when it was introduced by a citizen. Nadel conceded that the $25.00 would go to administrative fees, but adamantly stated that he’s against any and all fees when it comes to exercising fundamental rights.
“By refunding the majority of concealed carry permit fees, Howell is removing the financial burden that was unfairly placed on our residents by the State Legislature,” Nadel said in a statement. “Residents merely want to exercise their constitutional and natural-born freedoms — all of which are solidified in our nation’s Bill of Rights.”
Mayor John Leggio said during Tuesday’s meeting that “This is a big deal for us too, with these gun rights,” acknowledging that “the State of New Jersey [is] violating our rights.”
“We are protected by our Second Amendment rights,” Leggio said when asked for a statement. “Implementing stricter laws like more permit requirements and fees — they’re infringing on our protections through the courts. It’s an overreach by the states, and [these provisions] should be overturned. States should focus more on the criminals than the law-abiding citizens.”
Speaking on behalf of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Chairman Alan Gottlieb lauded the efforts of Howell’s council and mayor, noting their actions weaken “anti-liberty forces.”
“There are now a dozen municipalities in the Garden State that have decided to respect the rights of their citizens by not imposing onerous fees on them to exercise a constitutional right,” CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb said. “As more towns resolve that the law passed by the New Jersey legislature is unconstitutional, it weakens the grip the anti-liberty forces have on the people. We’re proud of the grassroots efforts of our members and the members of our partners — the NRA-ILA and NJFOS — in this fight.”
Howell resident Jim Howard — an NRA-certified firearms instructor and trustee of the Coalition of New Jersey Firearm Owners — attended the meeting. Howard was the first of a few residents in the township who brought the policy brief on the resolution to the council. At a meeting over the summer, Howard officially introduced the concept to the council and the public at large.
“While it took longer than I hoped, I was happy to be a part of the process, and I’m glad the resolution was passed,” Howard said. “There are quite a few people on social media saying that ‘we’ should do this town or that town, but the ‘we’ starts with you!”
Howard explained that this is a grassroots initiative and that citizens looking to have similar measures passed in their towns need to be ready to put the sweat equity in. He observed that keyboard warriors need to step up and get involved. Howard’s advice?
“The information is readily available to send to your town,” Howard said. “Send them an email; find out when the next town council meeting is, and tell them that you don’t pay for your other constitutional rights, …”
New Jersey Firearms Owners Syndicate director of legal operations and vice president, Joe LoPorto, celebrated the passage on social media that evening.
“As of today, towns in seven counties have taken this initiative,” LoPorto wrote in a message in NJFOS’ private social media group. “With just the towns that have passed our resolution so far, we have eliminated approximately $130,000 per year in exorbitant, abusive, and unconstitutional permitting fees. Nearly 200,000 people in N.J. now live in towns that are free of these restrictions!”
The permit-to-carry fee nullification movement is a grassroots movement. This is one way that citizens can get directly involved with the process and see where the rubber meets the road.
Citizens can ask if their local political leaders actually respect them, or if they take them for granted. Clearly, there are political leaders in the Garden State who respect the Second Amendment, and this movement is gaining more and more traction.
For more information about the fee nullification initiative co-led by NJFOS, CCRKBA, and NRA-ILA, check out the rebate resolution policy brief HERE. NJFOS requests that people engaging with their town reach out to Joe LoPorto via email to discuss a strategy and for tracking purposes.
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