Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down New Jersey's Assault Weapons Ban, 10-5

New Jersey's decades-old ban on semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazines is unconstitutional, the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday. This is the first time a federal appeals court has struck down a state's assault weapons ban entirely, according to the New York Post.

The vote was 10-5, en banc, meaning the full bench of the court heard the case rather than a standard three-judge panel. A significant number of judges from a court that doesn't sit as a whole very often participated, signaling how consequential the judges considered this case.

U.S. Circuit Judge Arianna Freeman wrote the majority opinion. She's a Biden appointee, and she wasn't the only Democratic appointee to side with gun rights groups. The rest of the majority was made up of Republican-appointed judges, according to the Post's reporting. That cross-partisan lineup undermines the easy narrative that this was simply conservative judges doing what conservative judges do.

The ruling covers two things New Jersey banned: AR-15-style semiautomatic rifles and magazines holding more than 10 rounds. Freeman wrote that Supreme Court precedent teaches that "bans or broad prohibitions on possessing or carrying of a class of weapons in common use for lawful purposes fail to find support in our Nation's tradition of firearm regulation." She added that holds true "even when the regulations are passed with the intention of reducing gun violence."

The court isn't saying New Jersey lawmakers had bad motives. It's saying good intentions don't override a constitutional right if the historical record doesn't back up the restriction.

The Legal Backdrop

This fight traces back to the Supreme Court's 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. That ruling said modern gun laws have to line up with the country's historical tradition of firearm regulation, not just pass some balancing test judges like. Bruen blew up decades of lower-court gun law analysis and forced courts across the country to relitigate old restrictions under a new, tougher standard.

New Jersey's ban on AR-15s dates to 1990. A lower-court judge already ruled on part of this fight in 2024, finding the rifle ban unconstitutional but letting the magazine limit stand, a split decision according to the Post. The full appeals court went further this time, striking down both provisions.

New Jersey's Democratic-controlled government defended the law by arguing these are military-style weapons capable of, in the state's words, causing "wholesale destruction" and fueling mass shootings. Mass shootings involving AR-15-style rifles have happened, and lawmakers who supported this ban were responding to genuine public safety worries.

But the legal question isn't whether the ban is good policy. It's whether it's constitutional under the Second Amendment as interpreted by Bruen. The 3rd Circuit majority concluded these are weapons in "common use" for lawful purposes like self-defense, and history doesn't support banning a category of commonly-owned firearms outright.

Where This Goes Next

This isn't the final word. The Supreme Court agreed last month to review similar bans out of Cook County, Illinois, and Connecticut, meaning the exact same legal question is already headed for the nation's highest court. The Supreme Court currently has a 6-3 conservative majority.

Friday's 3rd Circuit ruling may end up as a preview rather than a final resolution. If the Supreme Court rules on the Illinois and Connecticut cases in a way that upholds those bans, New Jersey's law could theoretically survive in some form despite this week's decision. If the Supreme Court strikes those bans down, it would likely cement what the 3rd Circuit just did and extend it nationwide.

Brandon Combs, president of the Firearms Policy Coalition, one of the groups that challenged New Jersey's law, called the ruling "another devastating blow to the authoritarian war on gun owners," according to the Post. That's Combs' characterization, reflecting how gun rights advocates view the broader push by blue states to restrict these weapons.

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin's office has not yet indicated, in the material reviewed, whether the state will seek further review or how it plans to respond given the pending Supreme Court cases. Until the Supreme Court rules on the Illinois and Connecticut bans, expect this fight to stay unsettled in New Jersey and in every other state with a similar law on the books.