Unfortunately this is nothing new, it just gets more news time.
In the 1990's we drove down from New Hampshire to visit relatives in New Jersey. My uncle, who was in his 60's at the time and had never had so much as a traffic ticket in his life just happened to mention how he had been waiting over a year to get a permit approved so he could buy the 50th anniversary Daisy Red Ryder BB gun, a toy that he had played with as a child. So I told him that I would buy him one when I got back up to NH.
Our local store was sold out of Red Ryders but they said there was one available in their Methuen, MA store just over the border. We drove to Methuen and picked out the bb gun. When we went to pay we were told we had to apply for a permit to buy and wait for it to be approved by the police. I walked out in disgust.
As it turned out my sister, who also lived in NJ, was in Maine on business. I called her. She bought the BB gun at Kittery Trading Post, took it back and gave it to my uncle. He displayed it on the wall over his fireplace like it was a trophy.
All that trouble over a child's toy and you wonder why we left New Jersey.