A federal appeals court on Friday ruled that New Jersey's bans on assault firearms and magazines that can hold 10 or more rounds are unconstitutional, marking the first time a federal appeals court has struck down a state ban on such weapons. The ruling comes as the US Supreme Court is set to consider whether bans on semiautomatic rifles violate the Second Amendment in the fall.
Court Ruling Details
The Third US Circuit Court of Appeals said in its opinion that the state's ban on all semiautomatic rifles it deems to be "assault firearms" and its restriction on "large capacity ammunition magazines" were unconstitutional. This ruling goes further than a July 2024 decision from a federal judge, who found the state's ban on AR-15s specifically unconstitutional but upheld the provision barring larger magazines.
New Jersey's Attorney General, Jennifer Davenport, a Democrat whose office defended the law, told the Associated Press that the decision is "as unfortunate as it is legally incorrect." She 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."
Context of Assault Weapons Bans
In many states, AR-15s are classified as assault weapons, a legal term used to describe guns that lawmakers determine are meant to be used offensively rather than defensively, based on characteristics such as magazine capacity and the size of the weapon. According to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, 10 states including California, New York, and Delaware, as well as the District of Columbia, have laws that generally ban the manufacture, sale, and transfer of assault weapons. The District of Columbia, New Jersey, and 11 other states cap magazine capacity at 10 rounds generally or for certain types of firearms.
In 1994, the federal government enacted a national ban, but Congress allowed it to expire in 2004. Democrats have supported renewing it in response to a series of mass shootings, but those efforts have not materialized into a new national ban. States have continued to pass their own laws, including recent measures in Virginia and Rhode Island.
Impact and Reactions
Adam Winkler, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, told the Associated Press that Friday's ruling was surprising because federal courts of appeals have upheld assault weapons bans in the past. On the other hand, he added, the decision "may be foretelling the Supreme Court's coming opinion on assault weapons bans." Winkler noted, "What this Third Circuit opinion shows is that there are very few gun laws that are safe from being struck down right now."
This is the latest high-profile dispute over guns to reach the Supreme Court since its conservative majority handed down a landmark ruling in 2022 that expanded Second Amendment rights and spawned challenges to firearm laws around the country. It also comes on the heels of two recent victories for Second Amendment advocates. On 18 June, the Supreme Court sided with a Texas man who argued that policies barring marijuana users from gun ownership violate the Second Amendment. The following week, the Court struck down a Hawaii law that prohibits people from bringing a gun onto private property without the owner's consent.
