Down Goes Jersey: Third Circuit Ends NJ's Ban on
'Assault Weapons'and 'High Capacity' Magazines

I was traveling yesterday, so couldn't get to the really big news that broke. That, of course, was the Third District Court of Appeals' en banc 10-5 ruling that New Jersey's "assault weapons" and "high capacity" magazine bans are unconstitutional.

You may yawn and say, 'What's the BFD? The Supreme Court already granted cert on two hardware cases." True enough, but until yesterday, every other Court of Appeals to rule on "assault weapons" bans had upheld them. That was a point of pride for the gun control industry and their enablers in the media.

No longer. Yesterday's ruling, which consolidated three cases, creates a circuit court split. And the wording of the ruling — written by Biden-appointed Judge Arianna Freeman — establishes that AR-15s and similar semi-automatic rifles are not only arms under the Second Amendment (other courts had ruled that they aren't "arms" because they're somehow dangerous and unusual) but are in common use for lawful purposes. That qualifies them as protected under both Heller and Bruen.

As Judge Freeman wrote … …