Third Circuit strikes down New Jersey bans on assault firearms and large capacity magazines – JURIST

The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled Friday that New Jersey’s bans on assault firearms and magazines holding more than 10 rounds violate the Second Amendment, marking the first time a federal appeals court has struck down a state assault weapons ban.

Sitting en banc, the court was divided 10-5. Writing for the majority, Judge Freeman applied the US Supreme Court’s framework in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which requires firearm restrictions to be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of gun regulation. The court agreed with the lower court that New Jersey’s ban on Colt AR-15s is unconstitutional. It expanded the lower court’s order to reach the full class of semi-automatic rifles. The court also overruled the lower court’s ruling that upheld the state’s restriction on large capacity magazines, holding that the ban violates the Second Amendment.

The majority reasoned that semi-automatic rifles and the magazines at issue are in common use for lawful purposes, and therefore fall within the Second Amendment’s protection. The court noted the lower court’s finding that roughly 24 million AR-15-style rifles are in circulation nationwide, and that New Jersey offered no data to rebut the conclusion that such firearms are commonly owned for self-defense, target shooting, hunting, and pest control.

Judge Patty Shwartz dissented, joined by three other judges. She wrote that the Second Amendment has never been understood to guarantee a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever, and that the majority had adopted a contemporary lens rather than the historical one the Supreme Court requires:

The Majority, however, holds that states cannot regulate weapons that are currently popular. This approach adopts a contemporary lens, even though the Supreme Court tells us that we are to keep our eye on the history and tradition of banning dangerous and unusual weapons, like the semi-automatic rifles equipped with large capacity magazines that gunmen have continued to use to commit crimes and mass shootings.

New Jersey first restricted large capacity magazines in 1990, and in 2018 it amended the law to bar magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds, down from a prior threshold of 15. The Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, backed by the National Rifle Association, challenged the restrictions.

The ruling deepens a divide among the federal appeals courts. Last year, the First Circuit upheld Massachusetts’ assault weapons ban, and other circuits have sustained similar laws. The split arrives as the US Supreme Court has already agreed to hear consolidated challenges to assault weapons bans in Illinois and Connecticut, with arguments expected this fall.