Court Puts Ruling That Struck Down New Jersey Gun Ban On Ice

A federal appeals court put on hold Tuesday a decision that declared New Jersey’s ban on modern semiautomatic firearms unconstitutional.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit struck down New Jersey’s ban on so-called “assault weapons” in a July 17 decision, expanding a lower-court’s ruling that only applied to AR-15-style rifles to include many modern semiautomatic rifles and also declaring standard capacity magazines as protected under the Second Amendment. The appellate court’s decision allows New Jersey to file a petition asking the Supreme Court to take the case, which is similar to Viramontes v. Cook County, a case the court has already agreed to hear in its fall session.

“Issuance of this Court’s mandate is stayed pending the Supreme Court’s disposition of movants’ anticipated petition for writ of certiorari or until the time for filing such a petition has expired,” Circuit Judge Arianna Freeman, a Biden appointee who authored the Third Circuit’s opinion in Cheeseman v. Davenport, said in the order. “Should movants’ anticipated petition for writ of certiorari be granted, the stay of this Court’s mandate shall remain in place pending the Supreme Court’s final disposition on the merits.”

New Jersey has until October 15 to file its petition before the high court, unless the court grants it a 60-day extension.

The Supreme Court ruled in Wolford v. Lopez that the state’s law requiring private property owners who wished to allow concealed carry on the premises to clearly post signs that carrying guns was allowed was unconstitutional. The high court granted writs of certiorari in Viramontes v. Cook County, Illinois and Grant v. Higgins, cases involving bans on modern semiautomatic firearms imposed by Cook County, Illinois, and Connecticut, on June 30, five days after deciding the Wolford case.

New Jersey first passed its restrictions on modern semiautomatic firearms in 1990, when Democratic Gov. Jim Florio campaigned on the measure following the use of an AK-47-style semiautomatic rifle in an attack on a day-care center.