Third Circuit Strikes Down New Jersey's Assault Weapons and Magazine Bans, 10-5

The full Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 10-5 on Friday, July 17, that New Jersey's bans on semiautomatic rifles and magazines holding more than 10 rounds violate the Second Amendment. It's the first time any federal appeals court has struck down a state assault weapons ban, according to both The Trace and The Guardian.

The case, Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs v. Attorney General New Jersey, has been in litigation since 2018, according to the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action, which litigated the case alongside the state affiliate. Judge Arianna Freeman, a Biden appointee, wrote the majority opinion.

"Together, Heller and Bruen teach 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," Freeman wrote, according to The Trace. "That is so even when the regulations are passed with the intention of reducing gun violence."

The Legal Test That Decided It

The ruling turns on what's called the "common use" test, which the Supreme Court set out in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and refined in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022). Under that framework, a weapon can't be banned if it's in common use for lawful purposes, and the government bears the burden of proving a historical American tradition of banning it.

According to Reason's analysis of the opinion, the Third Circuit found the government failed that burden. The NRA's court filing cited data showing Americans lawfully possess at least 24 million AR-platform rifles and more than 100 million magazines holding over 10 rounds. Because those numbers reflect widespread lawful ownership, the court held, the weapons don't meet the "dangerous and unusual" standard that would justify a ban.

Reason's write-up notes the common-use test has drawn criticism as essentially "a popularity poll," but argues that criticism misses that the Supreme Court itself requires the test, and that popularity of a weapon is directly relevant to whether it's used for lawful purposes.

New Jersey Pushes Back

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, a Democrat whose office defended the law, called the ruling "as unfortunate as it is legally incorrect," according to the Associated Press, as reported by The Guardian. "Every other federal circuit court to consider the issue has come out the other way," Platkin said. "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."

The Guardian notes the Fourth Circuit upheld Maryland's ban and the Seventh Circuit just upheld Illinois's ban, meaning every other circuit to rule on similar laws sided with the states. The Third Circuit is now the outlier, not the consensus.

The Guardian also reports the ruling goes further than a July 2024 federal district court decision, which had struck down New Jersey's AR-15-specific ban but left the magazine cap in place. The en banc Third Circuit wiped out both restrictions entirely.

What Happens Next

The case now returns to the district court to implement the ruling, according to the NRA-ILA, and litigation continues over New Jersey's separate bans on semiautomatic pistols and shotguns, which this ruling didn't touch. New Jersey can also petition the Supreme Court directly.

The ruling has immediate reach beyond New Jersey. The Trace reports Delaware's 2022 assault weapons ban, passed after the Uvalde and Buffalo shootings, sits within the Third Circuit's jurisdiction, and a pending district court challenge there will now be bound by Friday's decision. A similar ban in the U.S. Virgin Islands could also be affected.

The bigger fight is already teed up. The Supreme Court agreed to hear oral arguments this fall in a case challenging assault weapons bans in Cook County, Illinois, and statewide in Connecticut, according to The Trace, with a ruling expected by June 2027. Justice Brett Kavanaugh signaled in an earlier cert denial in a related case, Snope, that the Court wanted more appellate rulings before it settled the AR-15 question nationally, according to Reason's Second Amendment Roundup.

With four other circuits having upheld similar bans and the Third Circuit now the lone one to strike one down, the Supreme Court faces a genuine circuit split heading into arguments this fall on a question that will determine whether bans on the country's best-selling rifle platform survive in the roughly dozen states that still have them.