LEGISLATIVE FISCAL ESTIMATE
[First Reprint]
ASSEMBLY, No. 4974
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
DATED: MARCH 27, 2025
SUMMARY
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Synopsis: |
Establishes criminal penalties for sale and possession of machine gun conversion devices. |
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Type of Impact: |
Annual State expenditure and revenue increases; annual local expenditure increase. |
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Agencies Affected: |
Department of Law and Public Safety; County Prosecutors; the Judiciary; Office of the Public Defender; Department of Corrections; State Parole Board. |
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Office of Legislative Services Estimate |
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Fiscal Impact |
Annual |
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State Cost Increase |
Indeterminate |
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State Revenue Increase |
Indeterminate |
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Local Cost Increase |
Indeterminate |
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· The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) finds that the bill will result in an indeterminate increase in annual State and local expenditures. The OLS lacks sufficient information to quantify the fiscal impact, as it is not possible to know how many individuals will be prosecuted, tried, and sentenced for crimes under the bill.
· The bill’s establishment of crimes of the second and third degree would result in the following State and local agencies incurring caseload and expenditure increases: a) the Department of Law and Public Safety would provide guidance and other information related to the prosecution of the cases; b) county prosecutors would have to prosecute additional cases; c) the Judiciary would have to adjudicate additional complaints and monitor additional probationers; d) the Office of the Public Defender would have to represent additional low-income criminal defendants; e) the Department of Corrections may have to house and care for more individuals in cases where the sentencing involves incarceration; and f) the State Parole Board may have to supervise the return to society of additional convicts.
· The OLS also notes that the State may receive indeterminate revenue from fines imposed on individuals convicted of these new crimes; however, the State’s ability to collect fines has historically been limited.
BILL DESCRIPTION
This bill revises the definition of machine gun to include certain conversion parts. Under current law, a machine gun is defined as any firearm, mechanism or instrument not requiring that the trigger be pressed for each shot and having a reservoir, belt or other means of storing and carrying ammunition which can be loaded into the firearm, mechanism or instrument and fired therefrom. This bill clarifies that a machine gun also includes the frame or receiver of the firearm, any part designed and intended solely and exclusively, or combination of parts designed and intended, for use in converting a firearm into a machine gun, and any combination of parts from which a machine gun can be assembled if such parts are in the possession or under the control of a person. Under current law, it is a crime of the second degree to possess a machine gun. A crime of the second degree is punishable by five to 10 years imprisonment, a fine of up to $150,000, or both.
This bill establishes the crime of possessing or selling a machine gun conversion device, which the bill defines as any device capable of converting a firearm into a machine gun. The bill also clarifies that a person who knowingly possesses machine gun conversion devices, bump stocks, and trigger cranks but who does not possess a firearm to which those components may be affixed is guilty of a crime of the third degree.
In addition, the bill also establishes a crime of the third degree for manufacturing, transporting, shipping, selling, or disposing of a machine gun conversion device. A crime of the third degree is punishable by three to five years imprisonment, a fine of up to $15,000, or both.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
None received.
OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE SERVICES
The OLS finds that the bill will result in an indeterminate increase in annual State and local expenditures. The OLS lacks sufficient information to quantify the fiscal impact, as it is not possible to know how many individuals will be prosecuted, tried, and sentenced for crimes under the bill.
The bill’s establishment of crimes of the second and third degree would result in the following State and local agencies incurring caseload and expenditure increases: a) the Department of Law and Public Safety would provide guidance and other information related to the prosecution of the cases; b) county prosecutors would have to prosecute additional cases; c) the Judiciary would have to adjudicate additional complaints and monitor additional probationers; d) the Office of the Public Defender would have to represent additional low-income criminal defendants; e) the Department of Corrections may have to house and care for more individuals in cases where the sentencing involves incarceration; and f) the State Parole Board may have to supervise the return to society of additional convicts. The State may receive indeterminate revenues from fines imposed; however, the State’s ability to collect fines has historically been limited.
The OLS notes that to the extent the bill results in additional incarcerations, the Department of Corrections would incur those costs. Based on information provided by the department, the FY 2023 average annual cost for housing, ensuring security, and providing services to an incarcerated individual was $75,254, with an average marginal cost of housing one additional incarcerated person, accounting for food, clothes and wages, of $207. By way of background, according to the department’s January 2024 Population Characteristics Report, 1,818 individuals were incarcerated in State facilities for weapons-related base offenses. With the establishment of new weapons-related crimes, the department’s facilities may see an uptick in this number.
According to a 2024 State Commission of Investigation report, State law does not currently prohibit the possession of switches that enable a semi-automatic weapon to be transformed into a machine gun, despite these devices being accessible to purchase for as little as $20 online. While it is illegal to possess a machine gun in New Jersey, federal law criminalizes both possession of a machine gun and the conversion device. Furthermore, the report points out that firearms data collected by the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives indicate that between 2017 and 2021, police agencies nationwide recovered more than 5,400 machine gun conversion parts, a 570 percent increase from the previous five-year period. The New Jersey State Police only began collecting data on the statewide recovery of firearms with conversion devices in the spring of 2024. The State Commission of Investigation has found an active market online for the purchase of firearm conversion devices.
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Section: |
Judiciary |
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Analyst: |
Senior Fiscal Analyst |
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Approved: |
Thomas Koenig Legislative Budget and Finance Officer |
This legislative fiscal estimate has been produced by the Office of Legislative Services due to the failure of the Executive Branch to respond to our request for a fiscal note.
This fiscal estimate has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67 (C.52:13B-6 et seq.).