PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A split U.S. appeals court has upheld a New Jersey law that limits the amount of ammunition a single gun magazine can hold.
A law passed this year limits most gun owners there to magazines that hold 10 rounds of ammunition instead of the 15-round limit in place since 1990.
U.S. Circuit Judge Patty Shwartz wrote that the law balances the state’s interest in public safety with the rights of individuals to defend their homes.
The recent 2-1 ruling denied a motion by a gun-rights group for a temporary injunction to stop the law from taking effect.
New Jersey officials hope the ban on large capacity magazines could thwart mass shooters if they have to stop to reload. About seven other states, the District of Columbia and several cities have similar limits.
Shwartz said the National Rifle Association affiliates challenging the law downplayed “the significant increase in the frequency and lethality” of mass shootings and active shooter situations. And she said the state effort doesn’t violate the Second Amendment because “it imposes no limit on the number of firearms or magazines or amount of ammunition a person may lawfully possess.”
Judge Stephanos Bibas, in dissent, pointed to that fact in questioning evidence the law will reduce gun violence.
The law is one of six gun control measures signed by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy in June.
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, in a tweet, called the ruling “a big win for public safety and law enforcement safety.”
The Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, which vowed to appeal, said that Americans own 133 magazines that can hold more than 10 bullets, about half of all those sold.
Executive Director Scott L. Bach attacked the ruling as “plainly wrong,” and said it was “turning one million honest citizens into felons” for taking steps to defend their homes.
- Posted December 12, 2018
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
New Jersey limit on ammunition affirmed
headlines Macomb
- Nonprofit gets a boost
- Nessel joins multistate coalition to defend U.S. EPA’s greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles
- Michigan 529 Awareness Day calls on families to save with MET and MESP for children’s educational future
- Department highlights importance of 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline during Mental Health Month
- No charges for officer in death of Michigan teen struck by police car during chase
headlines National
- This Los Angeles lawyer found her calling as a death doula
- ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform
- Artificial intelligence tools for brief writing and analysis are a small firm litigator’s new best friend
- Baker McKenzie partner drops suit seeking IRS documents on partnership scrutiny
- Family members sue networks after learning of loved ones’ deaths by seeing bodies on TV
- Ex-BigLaw attorney once ‘consumed with remorse’ over $10M client theft sentenced in new scheme