The style of gun that was used to shoot Donald Trump can’t be banned in New Jersey, federal judge rules
The AR-15 is a popular gun that was used by Thomas Matthew Crooks, the shooter who tried to assassinate Donald Trump.
A federal judge struck down New Jersey’s ban on the AR-15 rifle, the style of gun that was used in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pa.
New Jersey’s cap on magazines over 10 rounds is constitutional, however, the judge determined.
U.S. District Judge Peter Sheridan’s 69-page opinion says he was compelled to rule as he did because of the Supreme Court’s rulings in firearms cases, particularly the 2022 Bruen decision that expanded gun rights.
Second Amendment advocates and New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin plan to appeal the decision.
Sheridan seemed to blame his ruling on the Supreme Court, and suggested that Congress and the president can do more to address gun violence.
“It is hard to accept the Supreme Court’s pronouncements that certain firearms policy choices are ‘off the table’ when frequently, radical individuals possess and use these same firearms for evil purposes,” he wrote.
» READ MORE: Donald Trump’s shooter used the most popular rifle in America. The AR-15 and Pennsylvania, explained
“Where the Supreme Court has set for the law of our Nation, as a lower court, I am bound to follow it.” Sheridan added. “... This principle — combined with the reckless inaction of our governmental leaders to address the mass shooting tragedy afflicting our Nation — necessitates the Court’s decision.”
New Jersey has among the strictest gun laws in the country, but nine other states and the District of Columbia have bans on guns that are classified as assault weapons, such as the AR-15.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) classifies the Colt AR-15 as a semiautomatic assault weapon. Gun advocates push back against the “assault” descriptor for semiautomatic guns available to civilians; the term has been used by gun control advocates and in Democrat-backed efforts to ban guns such as the AR-15 in recent decades.
Brandon Combs, president of the Firearms Policy Coalition, one of the plaintiffs, said “bans on so-called assault weapons are immoral and unconstitutional” and said the group will fight all of the similar bans across the country.
Platkin said the ruling endangers public safety.
“The AR-15 is an instrument designed for warfare that inflicts catastrophic mass injuries, and is the weapon of choice for the epidemic of mass shootings that have ravaged so many communities across this nation,” the attorney general said.
The AR-15 is a popular style of gun that has been used by mass shooters across the country, including several in Pennsylvania.
The United States had a federal assault weapon ban that lasted from 1994 to 2004, and efforts to revitalize it have been unsuccessful.
And that ban was poorly worded, so companies modified their guns to fit the law, according to Wall Street Journal reporter Cameron McWhirter, who cowrote a book on the history of the gun called American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15 with his colleague Zusha Elinson.
The sale of AR-15-style guns//spiked before the ban, continued to increase during the ban, and spiked again after the ban, which was also influenced by changing views on guns and a post-9/11 sentiment, McWhirter said.
This article contains information from the Associated Press.