New Jersey’s ban on the sale and possession of AR-15 rifles was overturned by a federal judge on Tuesday after the judge ruled that the state’s “Assault Firearms Law” was unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Peter Sheridan’s decision that New Jersey’s ban on the sale and possession of AR-15s violated the Second Amendment came after the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs and the Firearms Policy Coalition sued the state over the AR-15 ban as well as another law banning higher-capacity magazines, according to The Daily Wire.
In Tuesday’s decision, Sheridan referenced the Supreme Court’s previous decisions on state gun regulations, including the “New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen” decision that overturned New York’s concealed carry gun restrictions and required judges across the United States to view gun laws in light of the “historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
“That is, where the Supreme Court has set forth the law of our Nation, as a lower court, I am bound to follow it,” Sheridan stated. “This principle — combined with the reckless inaction of our governmental leaders to address the mass shooting tragedy afflicting our Nation — necessitates the Court’s decision. For these reasons and those below, the AR-15 Provision of Assault Firearms Law is unconstitutional.”
Sheridan explained that the possession of AR-15 rifles for self-defense purposes was protected by the Second Amendment and that New Jersey’s ban was “inconsistent with our Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
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The Daily Wire reported that the federal judge’s ruling did not apply to other guns currently banned in New Jersey, such as the Springfield Armory BM59 or the Beretta AR-70, which were also banned under the “Assault Firearms Law.” Sheridan’s ruling also upheld the state’s ban on higher capacity magazines. In his decision, Sheridan pointed to recent mass shootings as one of the factors that contributed to his decision to uphold the ban on higher capacity magazines.
“Large capacity ammunition magazines have been used in most of these mass shooting events in recent years,” Sheridan wrote. “This relationship is impossible to ignore.”
Following Tuesday’s ruling, Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs Executive Director Scott Bach announced that the organization would be appealing the ruling.
Bach said, “While the decision is mixed and certain to be appealed by both sides, it is groundbreaking in that it invalidates part of New Jersey’s ‘assault firearms’ ban — a misguided hardware ban destined to be overturned in its entirety.”
On the other hand, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, a Democrat, threatened to appeal the judge’s decision to overturn the AR-15 ban and claimed that the court had weaponized the Second Amendment to “undermine public safety.”
