Toms River Marks 13th NJ Municipality to Nullify Carry Permit Fees

Toms River, N.J. is the 13th town in the Garden State to adopt a permit to carry rebate resolution in the Garden State. New Jerseyans are rejecting Trenton’s response to Bruen en masse.

Toms River is the second largest municipality in Ocean County and now the largest town to pass a fee nullification resolution. Joining Howell — the second largest town in Monmouth County — Toms River represents a big win for the movement. The council unanimously voted on December 10 to adopt the resolution via consent agenda.

As previously reported, the permit to carry fee nullification movement started in June 2025. The grassroots movement began in Englishtown and has spread across the state.

In response to NYSRPA v. Bruen, New Jersey lawmakers passed a sweeping law to limit the rights of permit to carry holders.

One of the provisions added to the law was raising the price for permits to $200.00. Of that fee, $50.00 was allocated to a state victim compensation fund — now ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals — and $150.00 to local jurisdictions. The fee nullification resolutions involve towns resolving to refund the municipal portions of the fees back to applicants.

In the days following the Englishtown resolution, a coalition was formed between New Jersey Firearms Owners Syndicate, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action to support their collective members in introducing resolutions in their municipalities.

In a recent statement concerning the Howell resolution passage, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Chairman Alan Gottlieb celebrated the success of the movement. 

“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,” Gottlieb said. “We’re proud of the grassroots efforts of our members and the members of our partners — the NRA-ILA and NJFOS — in this fight.”

According to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Permit to Carry Dashboard, Toms River has approved 1,604 applications post-Bruen. As of October 2025, there are just over 1,100 current permits to carry in the town. Toms River has the second largest number of approved post-Bruen permits to carry in the state coming under Newark’s 1,626.

Toms River Council President Justin Lamb led the introduction of the resolution. Leading up to the Dec. 10 council meeting, Lamb said “the fee structure, as imposed by the State, has created an unnecessary financial barrier for law-abiding residents exercising a constitutional right.” In his statement, he further explained that the permitting fees are “a tax on a core constitutional freedom.”

“Our hope is other municipalities continue to follow suit compounding further on Koons v. Platkin, which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit has called into question even the $50 fee New Jersey collects as unconstitutional,” Lamb’s press release said.

Since the Third Circuit’s ruling in the combined Koons/Siegel cases, applicants in towns that passed these resolutions will be receiving their permits without any administrative fees. However, the barrier to applying for such carry permits include expensive training, a background check fee, the possession of a New Jersey firearms identification card, and other onerous steps that must be taken.

The complete list of towns that have passed resolutions or ordinances to refund all or part of their permit to carry fees include: Englishtown, Howell, Toms River, Beachwood, Butler, Dumont, Franklin Borough, Hardyston, Hopatcong, Medford Lakes, Vernon, Cresskill, and Readington.

New Jerseyans interested in bringing this fight to their town can download the policy brief and model resolution which is hosted at the New Jersey Firearms Owners Syndicate webpage HERE. Anyone starting to engage with their town, NJFOS requests they reach out to Joe LoPorto via email to discuss a strategy and for tracking purposes.

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