Appeals Court Strikes Down New Jersey Assault Weapons and Magazine Bans

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled July 17 that New Jersey cannot enforce its assault-weapons ban or its large-capacity magazine restriction. Ten of the court's 15 judges joined the en banc decision written by U.S.

Circuit Judge Arianna Freeman. The opinion held that weapons in common use for lawful purposes cannot be banned as dangerous and unusual. It noted that many millions of semiautomatic rifles are plainly in common use and relied on the Supreme Court's 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v.

Bruen. The ruling reversed a lower court that had upheld the magazine restriction while striking only the AR-15 portion of the rifle ban. New Jersey enacted its assault-firearms law in 1990. The law restricts the manufacture, sale, and transfer of certain semiautomatic rifles and limits magazine capacity to 10 rounds for some firearms.

Ten states plus the District of Columbia currently maintain similar bans on assault weapons. The National Rifle Association, which has litigated the case since 2018, described the outcome as a historic victory for the Second Amendment and law-abiding gun owners. The Supreme Court is scheduled to consider whether semiautomatic-rifle bans violate the Second Amendment in the fall.

Last month the Court agreed to review appeals-court decisions upholding comparable restrictions in Illinois and Connecticut.