New Jersey’s AR-15 and Magazine Bans Stay in Effect While Supreme Court Weighs Viramontes

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WASHINGTON, DC — The New Jersey gun owners who beat the state’s AR-15 and magazine bans in a federal appeals court told the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, Nov. 4, that the ruling was correct. They also agreed with the state on one thing. The justices should put New Jersey’s appeal on hold for now.

The case is Davenport v. Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, No. 26-452. The full Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 10-5 that two New Jersey laws violate the Second Amendment. One bans AR-15s and similar semiautomatic rifles. The other bans magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. New Jersey asked the Supreme Court to review that ruling, and to hold its request until related cases are decided.

Why would the winning side agree to wait? The Supreme Court will soon decide two cases, Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins, that ask whether the Second Amendment protects AR-15s. Holding a petition means the Court sets it aside, without accepting or rejecting it, until those rulings come out. If the Court rules the way the Third Circuit did, the gun owners say it “can and should deny the petition at that time.” That would leave their win in place.

Those two cases are about rifles, not magazines. But the Court is already holding other magazine cases, including Duncan v. Bonta and NAGR v. Lamont, and the gun owners say a rifle ruling “may provide guidance” on magazines too. A hold also avoids extra litigation over the part of the case still open: New Jersey’s ban on certain semiautomatic pistols and shotguns, which the Third Circuit did not rule on.

According to the brief, the Third Circuit found that semiautomatic rifles are “Arms” under the Second Amendment, and that there are “around 24 million AR-15s and similar sports weapons” owned by law-abiding Americans. It found no historical tradition that supports banning a whole class of arms in common use. It applied the same reasoning to magazines, noting that “the text of the Second Amendment does not limit ‘Arms’ to the minimum equipment necessary to operate a weapon.”

The stakes for New Jersey residents are real. Knowingly possessing a banned firearm carries up to 10 years in prison and a $150,000 fine. The magazine limit was 15 rounds from 1990 until 2018, when the state dropped it to 10. Owners got 180 days to surrender their magazines, move them out of state, or permanently modify them.

More from USA Carry:

• New Jersey Keeps Enforcing Its Rifle and Magazine Bans and Asks the Supreme Court to Park Its Appeal Behind Viramontes
• A Federal Court Threw Out New Jersey’s Rifle and Magazine Bans. The State Is Asking to Keep Enforcing Them Anyway
• Appeals Courts Now Split on 10-Round Magazine Bans, and California’s Is the Case Asking the Supreme Court to Step In
• Licensed to Carry in Ten States, Denied a Gun ID Card in New Jersey Over Online Posts: SAF Asks State Supreme Court to Step In
• Cook County Tells the Supreme Court AR-15s Are ‘Not in Common Use’ While Gun Groups Count 20 to 40 Million of Them

None of this changes the law yet. The Third Circuit paused its own ruling while New Jersey’s Supreme Court petition is pending, so both bans remain in effect. A gun owner’s mindset starts with knowing which laws are enforceable today, and right now both of these are. My New Jersey concealed carry laws page covers the state’s carry rules.

I will continue tracking this case, along with Viramontes and Grant.

Read the original story: New Jersey’s AR-15 and Magazine Bans Stay in Effect While Supreme Court Weighs Viramontes