u/Mr_Rapscallion66

"The United States Department of Justice has released a formal Office of Legal Counsel memorandum opinion clarifying that law-abiding Americans may carry constitutionally protected firearms into publicly accessible post offices for self-defense without violating federal criminal law. The opinion, dated August 12, 2026, and authored by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lanora C. Pettit, interprets 18 U.S.C. § 930(a), the longstanding prohibition on possessing firearms or other dangerous weapons in federal facilities, as not reaching ordinary self-defense carry in post offices open to the public."

It’s been just over four years since the historic NYSRPA v. Bruen decision was handed down from the U.S. Supreme Court. How have New Jersey’s policies and laws been since?

Not long after the decision came down, New Jersey, much like New York, expeditiously put together, passed, and enacted a “Bruen-response law.” Many of the things that New Jersey lawmakers instituted made the carriage of firearms and obtaining of permits much harder for those newly repatriated with the right to carry. That’s all on top of the decades of infringing policies and laws already on the books.

On August 11, nearly 50 lawmakers from both the Senate and the House signed a joint letter urging Attorney General Todd Blanche not to appeal the recent ruling out of the Northern District of Texas finding portions of the National Firearms Act unconstitutional.

The effort was led by Representative Andrew Clyde, who was joined by a coalition of 47 lawmakers – all Republicans – in response to the August 5 decision issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in the case known as Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF.

Riding Shotgun With Charlie

#259​

Joe LoPorto

NRA State Director, New Jersey Firearm Owners Syndicate

I met Joe LoPorto with some of the other friends from New Jersey while we were at the Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg. Since then, Joe has jumped from a career to working for the NRA as the State Director of the northern New England states.

When he was a young boy, he really was into the NRA. At 10 years old, he wanted a membership from his parents as a gift. He would put NRA stickers everywhere. It really seems that working for the NRA was his destiny. He grew up hunting and shooting at a young age, but his real passion was archery. The college years were busy for him. He went to college, got married, went to law school and had kids before he passed the bar exam. All at the same time.

The Bruen decision changed a lot of things in New Jersey and for Joe. For the Garden State, they had to admit the peasants to have their pitchforks and the politicians went kicking and screaming. For Joe, he decided it was time to double down on the Rights fight. He left his career, got more involved with New Jersey Firearm Owners Syndicate and eventually got a job with NRA. The NJFOS was just a Facebook group sharing things like where they’re going to meet for rallies, spreading the word about upcoming bills. After Bruen, they expanded and became a full non-profit organization. They’ve been involved with lobbying and litigation.

The job is overseeing lobbying in those states, keeping up on what’s going on in each of them, and going to all the NRA ILA events in each state.And accessing and endorsing candidates, managing the PACs, and being a liaison for the state organizations.

Only taking the job in November 2025, Joe has jumped in with both feet. New England is tough. Massachusetts is a disaster, New Hampshire is the Live Free or Die state, and Maine is a big state that has some pro-gun Democrats. He’s been driving up and down New England from New Jersey, and getting his hands dirty with all the activity going on in each of the states. The NRA has a lot going on with various programs, functions, and features. There’s really something for everyone at NRA. With NRA 2.0, he’s really enjoying where he’s at and what he’s doing.

With career experience and a law degree, Joe knows how things run within the system and with politicians. Going to each state’s capitol, working the state houses, and figuring out how to get around the political landscape in each state is a challenge. He’ll be in Boston, then Concord, NH, then back in Massachusetts, and up to Maine. All in the same week.

WIth the elections coming up, there’s lots of work to do. Each of the states have different schedules for being in session, election seasons, and, naturally, personalities. WIth his passion and experience, Joe is doing a great job and loving every minute of it.

His grandparents came over from Italy and enjoyed shooting. His cousin was an Olympic clay shooter for the Italian nationals. He’s got pictures of his grandfather with small game he’s harvested. With some of the firearms he has, he’s got a direct connection to his previous generations. So what he's doing with the NRA is really just a family tradition.

Favorite quotes:

“I’m not new to either firearms or gun rights. That’s been a priority for me since I was a little kid.”

“We can’t win every battle. When those battles aren’t won, it tends to be the NRA that takes the blame. Which is not necessarily a fair reality.”

“We didn’t truly have a Second Amendment in Jersey until Bruen.”

“Because the Democrats in the state (Massachusetts) have super majorities in both chambers, they’re constantly suspending all those rules.”

"On August 7, a large coalition of gun rights advocacy groups filed a motion for summary judgment in Padua v. Davenport, a case challenging New Jersey’s outright ban on suppressors. The coalition includes individual plaintiffs and the National Rifle Association, the Second Amendment Foundation, the American Suppressor Association, and Safari Club International, and is led by state groups New Jersey Firearm Owners Syndicate and the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs."

"The community of gun owners is often admonished that correlation is not causation as it relates to more people carrying firearms and falling levels of crime. While that may be true, in 2022, after the Supreme Court issued its landmark Bruen decision, blue state officials blasted the message that more people carrying firearms would be a blood-in-the-streets scenario that would endanger public safety. Not only has that narrative not come true, the opposite has happened."

Just saw that the Motion for Summary Judgment in the NJ suppressor ban case (Padua v. Platkin) got stamped and filed today.

Here’s the brief:

https://www.njfos.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/PaduaMSJFiledStamped.pdf

For anyone not following closely — this is the federal lawsuit challenging New Jersey’s total ban on suppressors (N.J.S.A. 2C:39-3). The plaintiffs include a few NJ residents plus NJFOS, ANJRPC, SAF, ASA, NRA, and Safari Club. They’re arguing suppressors are protected arms under the Second Amendment because they’re in common use for lawful purposes (mainly hearing protection), and that the state can’t point to any real historical tradition of banning them under the Bruen test.

Case number is 1:25-cv-13527 in the District of New Jersey. Return date still has to be set by the court. Progress is progress.

This week on Gun For Hire Radio… Joe LoPorto joins us to discuss the State of NJ’s latest desperate hail Mary move to further delay/deny the rights of law abiding citizens with their stay of mandate on our AWB and Magazine bans with the 3rd Circuit! Will it backfire? Please Listen, Learn, Like, Follow, Share, Donate, & Volunteer.