This spring, after visiting a walk-in medical facility due to pregnancy-related illness, Elsid Aliaj’s wife was wrongfully temporarily committed to a psychiatric facility. In response to that temporary and wholly inappropriate involuntary commitment, the Fort Lee Police Department seized Mr. Aliaj’s firearms. The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office then moved to permanently confiscate Mr. Aliaj’s firearms and to revoke Mr. Aliaj’s Firearms Identification Card, in effect permanently terminating Mr. Aliaj’s constitutional rights. These actions were taken against Mr. Aliaj under New Jersey’s “Duty to Warn” statute.

Today, NJFOS and our partner SAF joined to file a federal lawsuit against the Fort Lee Police Department and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office. The rationale for this action is quite simple: there is no historical tradition of disarming the people merely because they cohabitate with someone who may have a temporary legal disability… and more importantly, when law enforcement agencies and prosecutors act to restrain Second Amendment rights of the people of this state with no statutory authority, our organization will take action.

“We are today sending a clear message that rogue police departments and county prosecutors who violate a multitude of New Jerseyans’ core constitutional rights with no legal authority will not go unchecked,” said Joe LoPorto, director of legal operations. “This case is as much about protecting our members’ 4th and 5th Amendment rights as it is about protecting the right to keep and bear arms.”

ELSID ALIAJ – Filed Complaint