The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled Friday that New Jersey’s ban on “assault weapons” and “large capacity” magazines is unconstitutional.
The majority opinion in the case made clear that the state’s ban failed to survive the Bruen (2022) test, which is a two-tiered test examining the historicity and tradition of firearms and firearms regulation in America.
Firearms Policy Coalition commented on the ruling with a post to X, saying, “In its opinion, the Third Circuit concluded that New Jersey’s prohibition on semi-automatic rifles violates the Second Amendment and modified the district court’s judgment so that it applies to the entire class of banned semi-automatic rifles rather than only Colt AR-15s.”
The Second Amendment Foundation’s (SAF) executive director Adam Kraut told Breitbart News, “Today’s Third Circuit decision striking down New Jersey’s so-called ‘assault weapons’ ban confirms arguments in SAF’s two cases before the Supreme Court – Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins are valid and well-reasoned.”
“The Supreme Court’s recent decision Wolford v. Lopez, where the Court further clarified what constitutes an ‘arm’ for Second Amendment purposes, has already laid the groundwork for resolving these cases favorably and was adopted by the Third Circuit,” he added. “We are optimistic today’s ruling will further bolster a favorable result once we have the opportunity to argue the cases before the Court this fall.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. He is a lever action man in an AR-15 world. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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