Ruger’s “Mini-14” is still banned in New Jersey
In other words, if you don’t ask for it, you won’t get it.
But in allowing the state’s ban on LCMs (“Large Capacity Magazine”) to stand, Sheridan likened the state’s ban on LCMs to historical bans on Bowie knives:
“The LCM Amendment passes constitutional muster because although the Second Amendment right is implicated, this regulation is in line with the historical regulations within the tradition of our Nation.”
“Put more precisely, the reduction of capacity is a limitation on firearms ownership. It is not a categorical ban preventing law-abiding citizens from exercising their Second Amendment rights for a weapon that is in common use for self-defense.”
Got that? The LCM part of New Jersey’s ban on semi-automatic firearms isn’t really a ban but just a “limitation on firearms ownership.”
Lacking any historical evidence (as required by Bruen) of bans on LCMs — they simply didn’t exist at the time the Second Amendment was added to the Constitution — Sheridan dug deeply into the well of his imagination, helped along with the State of New Jersey:
“The Court moves next to its analysis of the State of New Jersey’s justification for its regulation by examining its reasons for regulating large capacity ammunition magazines and their consistency with our Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation….
The apt historical analogues here are other firearms (specifically, pistols) and the Bowie knife….
The most analogous comparison to the regulation at issue here is the Bowie knife, which — like many other knives — were [historically] often regulated like handguns….
Thus, while a few outlier States implemented near-total restrictions on Bowie knives, these restrictions overall formed the basis for a tradition of prohibiting a subset of arms that could be useful and had become common for self-defense yet nevertheless posed a threat to public safety.”
Missing was any discussion from the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bruen about “public safety” being part of its reasoning, because there isn’t any.
To justify his ruling on LCMs opposite to his ruling on the rifles they feed, Sheridan then rolled out the standard gun-controllers’ position: It’s the weapon that causes gun violence, and not the perp:
“There is significant data that large capacity magazines increase the lethality of mass shooting events.
The prevalence of large capacity magazines … holding more than ten rounds being used in high-fatality mass shootings is extremely high; indeed, all mass shootings between 2019 through 2022 involved their use.
This observation reflects growing trends. First, that mass shootings are becoming more deadly. Second, that large capacity ammunition magazines have been used in most of these mass shooting events in recent years. This relationship is impossible to ignore.
The stated purpose of the State of New Jersey — to effectively slow down a mass shooter — is well-served by the LCM Amendment.
The LCM Amendment might accomplish this end by providing a solution to this very real problem; the lethality exerted upon the victims of a shooter armed with a magazine that can continue to shoot in a line of uninterrupted fire for a longer time is lessened where that line of uninterrupted fire is reduced.
A limitation on magazine capacity stops the rate at which victims can be injured. A limitation on magazine capacity allows for time during which a shooter may be intercepted, interrupted, or hopefully, stopped.
Such a problem — while new to us — is analogous to other safety issues presented by commonly used weapons for lawful purposes confronted by our Nation in the past.
In the past, legislators took action to prevent these societal problems with limitations as the State of New Jersey has done here.
This burden on the people of New Jersey’s right to self-defense is comparable to that imposed by these historical laws. As such, these historical analogues provide the basis for the following conclusion: that the State may regulate the permissible capacity of the large capacity magazines.”
This, of course, is precisely the way the Second Amendment had been abrogated and relegated to “second class” status: by reasoning instead of following historical analogues. Bruen’s decision corrected this sort of “reasoning” undertaken by Sheridan.
All of this builds a compelling case for an appeal of his decision to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. In the meantime, New Jerseyans owning any other semi-automatic firearms than the AR-15, and LCMs capable of holding more than 10 rounds, remain criminally liable under the state’s ban.
This will soon be on its way to Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania among many other states so stock up on your LCM’s now!
Significant attribution for the above to: Federal Judge: New Jersey AR-15 Ban Unconstitutional; Magazine Ban OK - The New American
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