Third Circuit Strikes NJ Ban, Citing 24M AR-15s as Protected Arms

For legal professionals, the Third Circuit’s opinion is a crucial application of Bruen’s history‑and‑tradition test, shifting the burden squarely onto the government. It also wrestles with a Takings Clause challenge and creates a 3‑to‑3 circuit split that may finally force the Supreme Court to decide the constitutionality of modern firearm restrictions.

On July 17, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit delivered a landmark Second Amendment ruling, striking down New Jersey’s ban on so-called assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines holding more than ten rounds. The decision, authored by Circuit Judge Arianna Freeman, applies the Supreme Court’s 2022 test from New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen and holds that semiautomatic firearms and the magazines necessary for their function are “arms” protected by the Second Amendment. This outcome deepens an existing split among federal appeals courts and signals a potential Supreme Court showdown over the constitutionality of modern firearm restrictions.

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The procedural history spans three consolidated lawsuits: challenges by individual gun owners, the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, and the Firearms Policy Coalition.

The procedural history spans three consolidated lawsuits: challenges by individual gun owners, the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, and the Firearms Policy Coalition. A district court had previously used the Colt AR-15 as a representative firearm to strike the assault weapon ban but upheld the magazine ban, finding no violation of either the Second or Fifth Amendments. One lawsuit also raised a Takings Clause claim, arguing the magazine prohibition amounts to an uncompensated taking. The Third Circuit reversed on the magazine ban, extending the Second Amendment protection to ammunition feeding devices and implicitly rejecting the Takings argument for want of historical tradition supporting such restrictions.

At the heart of the majority’s reasoning is the Bruen framework, which shifts the burden to the government to demonstrate a historical pedigree for firearm regulations. The court noted that semiautomatic rifles are in common use—citing the approximately 24 million AR‑15s and similar firearms in the United States, second only to registered handguns—and that a ban cannot survive when the covered weapons are not dangerous and unusual. New Jersey failed to locate sufficiently analogous historical laws banning arms that are commonly owned by law‑abiding citizens for lawful purposes.

The ruling carries profound implications for gun regulation nationwide. It joins the Fourth and Ninth Circuits in striking down magazine caps, while the Second, Seventh, and D.C. Circuits have upheld them, creating a 3–3 split that increases the pressure on the Supreme Court to grant certiorari. For New Jersey and similarly situated states within the Third Circuit (Delaware, Pennsylvania, and the Virgin Islands), the injunction means immediate legal uncertainty: any assault weapon or magazine restriction modeled on New Jersey’s is now on precarious constitutional ground. Lawmakers and regulators will need to pivot to narrower, historically defensible measures—if any exist—or await further review.