On July 30, 2024, United States District Judge Peter Sheridan ruled that New Jersey’s “assault weapons” ban is unconstitutional. He came to this decision by citing precedents established by two previous Supreme Court cases, Heller (2008) and Bruen (2022).

He wrote in his decision, “The AR-15 Provision of the Assault Firearms Law is unconstitutional under Bruen and Heller as to the Colt AR-15 for use of self-defense within the home.”

According to a report by The New Jersey Monitor, Sheridan cited that Bruen, in particular, “makes any categorical ban on weapons that are commonly used for self-defense unconstitutional.”

However, Sheridan allowed the “high capacity” magazine ban tacked on to New Jersey’s “assault weapons” prohibition to stay in place.

New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, an anti-gun Democrat,  announced that he would appeal Sheridan’s ruling on the AR-15 ban.

New Jersey is arguably America’s most anti-gun state. According to Guns & Ammo magazine’s best states for gun owners rankings, New Jersey is ranked in 50th place. Only New York, has a worse anti-gun track record at 51st place.

This is a state where gun rights are allowed to wither away. Only through nullification in red counties and municipalities, and federal courts striking down gun control measures, can reverse such anti-gun encroachments in the short and medium-term.

That’s the reality of living in a hyper-polarized state where pro-gun forces can’t win at the state level, thereby greatly limiting the ability to pass pro-gun measures for the entire state.