Late last year the Second Amendment Foundation and New Jersey Firearms Owners Syndicate filed suit against the Fort Lee, New Jersey police department over the confiscation of legally owned firearms belonging to a man named Elsid Aliaj. The police seized Aliaj’s firearms after his wife was taken to the hospital for a mental health evaluation. Though doctors quickly confirmed that she was not a danger to herself or others, it took Ajiaj more than seven months to get his guns back.
As it turns out, Ajiaj isn’t alone, and it’s not just one department in Bergen County that’s seizing firearms after a household member is subject to a mental health evaluation. In an amended complaint, SAF and NJFOS are now suing the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, the Borough of Fort Lee, Borough of Paramus, and the Township of New Rochelle, New Jersey. The 2A orgs also have two new individual plaintiffs alongside Ajiaj; Paramus resident Martin Hronrich, and New Rochelle resident Luis Rene De La Cruz Franco.
On March 4, 2020, Hroncich’s then 18-year-old daughter (hereinafter referred to as “F.H.”), was involved in a misunderstanding while attending Paramus High School as a student, which caused staff employed by the school’s Guidance Department to mistakenly believe that F.H. intended to harm herself. That same day, at approximately 1:00 p.m., officers from the Paramus Police Department (“PPD”) were dispatched to the residence F.H. shared with Hroncich at the time, and subsequently transported her to New Bridge Medical Center for evaluation. As was ultimately confirmed by her medical providers, F.H. did not want to harm herself, and she was not a threat to herself or others—rather, she was simply reacting in a manner of a typical teenage high school student who was distraught after breaking up with her boyfriend at the time, when she told a friend that “she did not know what she wanted to do with her life anymore.” Later the same day, at approximately 7:00 p.m., F.H. was discharged from New Bridge Medical Center with a diagnosis of “Relationship distress with intimate partner.”
Three years later, that six-hour evaluation led to Paramus police denying Hroncich’s application for a permit to purchase a handgun, even though the department had previously approved his application for a Firearms Purchaser Identification Card in November, 2022. After Hronrich initiated an appeal of the denial of his permit-to-purchase the department then tried to revoke his FPIC, and Hronich had to fight for nearly a year to have it reinstated.
De La Cruz has a similar story, though his is much more recent.
On or about December 5, 2024, De La Cruz’s then 11-year-old son (hereinafter referred to as “S.D.”), was involved in a misunderstanding related to a communication on social media between S.D., and a fellow student at Midland School in Rochelle Park, which caused school staff members to mistakenly believe that S.D. intended to cause harm to the fellow student. In fact, as was ultimately confirmed by his mental health provider, S.D. did not intend to harm another individual and did not represent a threat to himself or others. Notwithstanding the misunderstanding, Rochelle Park Police Department obtained a TERPO against S.D. (and not against De La Cruz) under the ERPO Act. Later that evening, at approximately 12:15 a.m. on December 6, 2024, two RPPD officers arrived at De La Cruz’s home, where he and S.D. reside together, requesting to speak withS.D. Due to his status as a minor, S.D. does not, and has never, owned any firearms.
Police interrogated De La Cruz about the location of his firearm, which was in a gun safe located in his upstairs master bedroom. Despite that, RPPD officers instructed De La Cruz to surrender his firearm for “one or two days,” until the incident between S.D. and his classmate was sorted out.
That same day police moved to revoke De La Cruz’s FPIC, and since then he’s been fighting to get it (and his gun) back.
Until May 29, 2026, De La Cruz’s numerous attempts to contact Rochelle Park officials via phone and email to obtain an update on the status of his FPIC and his firearm went completely and totally unanswered, and as a result, De La Cruz faces the ongoing deprivation and violation of his constitutional right to bear arms. Moreover, because of the ongoing deprivation and violation of his constitutional right to bear arms at the hands of Rochelle Park and County Defendants, De La Cruz has been forced to forfeit a new employment opportunity—one which would have provided De La Cruz with a significant increase in his earnings—serving as a SORA-licensed armed commercial driver, which requires prospective employees to maintain a valid FPIC.
On May 29, 2026, County Defendants—after failing to invoke any legal authority for confiscating the Seized De La Cruz Firearm other than the TERPO against S.D., and continuing to try and cover their tracks before the amendment of this lawsuit, presented a draft “Consent Order” to De La Cruz and asked him to sign it in exchange for the return of the Firearm. However, the Consent Order, rather than being a good faith offer to restore De LaCruz’s Second Amendment rights, was a disingenuous attempt to get De La Cruz to ransom the De La Cruz Firearm in exchange for a release from liability, without the benefit of counsel. De LaCruz did not sign the Consent Order because it falsely stated that he had “voluntarily” surrendered his firearm and purported to release County Defendants by referring to the conclusion of “all” related proceedings.
This is absolutely infuriating, and I’m glad to see SAF and NJFOS are suing the county prosecutor and these boroughs and township for adopting and enforcing a confiscation policy that appears to flagrantly violate the right to keep and bear arms. There is no legitimate reason why any of these three individuals should have been subjected to the confiscation of their firearms to begin with, but the expensive and drawn-out process of getting their guns back adds even more insult and injury.
We’ll be talking about this lawsuit with SAF’s Bill Sack on Wednesday’s Cam & Company, and I may have to bleep myself when discussing the outrageous actions of the police and prosecutor here. I encourage you to tune in if you can, and we’ll be watching this lawsuit closely as it moves forward.
Editor’s Note: Groups like Second Amendment Foundation and New Jersey Firearms Owners Syndicate are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.
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