A federal appeals court has delivered a significant blow to New Jersey’s gun control measures, ruling Friday that the state’s prohibitions on assault firearms and magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds are unconstitutional.
This landmark decision marks the first time a federal appeals court has invalidated a state ban on such weapons, arriving as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to review whether similar bans on semi-automatic rifles infringe upon the Second Amendment.
The ruling also stands in contrast to a decision just last week, where a different federal appeals court upheld Illinois’ ban on semi-automatic weapons.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ judgment in the New Jersey case goes further than a July 2024 ruling by a federal judge. That earlier decision had only deemed the state’s ban on AR-15s unconstitutional, while upholding the provision barring larger magazines.
However, the appeals court on Friday declared the state’s entire ban on what it defines as “assault firearms” and its limitation on “large capacity ammunition magazines” to be unconstitutional.
New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, a Democrat whose office defended the challenged law, expressed strong disagreement with the outcome. In a statement, she called the decision “as unfortunate as it is legally incorrect.”
Davenport added, “Every other federal circuit court to consider the issue has come out the other way. Assault weapons and large capacity magazines play a dangerous role in the modern epidemic of mass shootings, and New Jersey acted reasonably and lawfully in restricting them. We are considering our options.”
Conversely, John Commerford, executive director of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, hailed the ruling as a “historic victory for the NRA, the Second Amendment, and law-abiding Americans.”
Commerford stated, “The Third Circuit has struck down these unconstitutional so-called assault weapons bans and magazine bans in New Jersey, affirming what we’ve always known: the right to keep and bear arms, including commonly-owned rifles and standard-capacity magazines, is fundamental and cannot be infringed by politicians who prioritize control over constitutional freedoms.”
