The state Supreme Court ruled a former Roseland police officer must surrender his guns and hunting knife because of multiple accusations of domestic violence.
TRENTON -- The state Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday that a former Roseland police officer must surrender his personal gun and ankle knife because of his history of domestic violence.
New Jersey's highest court voted 7-0 to strip the weapons from the man, overruling two lower court decisions and saying that New Jersey's domestic violence law -- which requires offenders to turn over their guns -- does not violate the Second Amendment.
Associate Justice Lee Solomon wrote for the court that the "right to bear arms" under the amendment is "subject to reasonable limitations."
"The police power of the state provides our Legislature with the authority to regulate firearms and establish such 'reasonable limitations' on their ownership," wrote Solomon, a Republican whom Republican Gov. Chris Christie nominated to the court in 2014.
New Jersey is home to some of the toughest gun control laws in the U.S., and Thursday's decision continues the Supreme Court's trend of upholding those laws.
The ruling also comes days after the U.S. Supreme Court, in a separate case, ruled that offenders in domestic violence cases who uses "reckless" conduct can be barred from owning guns.
The man cited in Thursday's decision, identified only as F.M., engaged in multiple physical and verbal altercations with his wife until their divorce was finalized in 2011, according to court documents.
Both the husband and wife, identified as G.M., were under restraining orders at certain points, the documents say.
In 2010, after the couple had separated, the husband attempted to take their children out for the day, but the wife claimed he did not have visitation that day and held on to the back of his car to stop him from leaving, according to court papers.
A Morristown police officer witnessed the husband try to throw his wife face first into a stone retaining wall, the papers say.
And when the officers saw injuries on the wife's forearm, he arrested the husband for alleged domestic violence and charged him with simple assault, according to the documents.
The wife then obtained a temporary restraining order, and Roseland police confiscated the husband's personal firearm and ankle knife and put him on desk duty, the documents say.
But the court did not grant a final restraining order and dismissed the assault charge after the husband completed counseling, according to the papers.
The Morris County Prosecutor's Office then filed a motion to take the man's gun and firearms I.D. card, the documents say.
A judge ordered Roseland police to retain the man's personal and service weapons until a further order of the court and ordered him to attend counseling programs, according to the papers.
The man completed them in 2012 and filed a motion to have his personal weapon returned, the papers say.
The prosecutor's office opposed this, saying that rearming the man "would not be in the interest of public health, safety or welfare," as outlined in New Jersey's Prevention of Domestic Violence Act of 1991, according to the documents.
The judge, however, denied the motion, saying the prosecutor was required to provide "more than just a showing that some danger might exist," the documents say.
He said a "difficult and tumultuous" marriage and divorce proceedings were not an adequate basis to deny the man his constitutional right to bear arms, according to the papers.
Plus, the judge found the wife's judgement "were not completely credible or reliable" and that testimony from experts who declared the man dangerous were not enough to strip him of his weapons, the papers say.
An appellate panel agreed, saying there was no substantial evidence to support that the man should not possess a firearm under state law.
But the Supreme Court said the judge applied state law "too narrowly," that he ignored "substantial, credible evidence in the record," and that returning the weapons to the man would violate state law.
The man was terminated from the Roseland force in 2013, court documents say.
Morris County Prosecutor Frederic Knapp said the Supreme Court's decision "recognizes that not only domestic violence victims, but also the community as a whole, needs to be protected from those who are unfit to possess a firearm and jeopardize the public welfare."
Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.