A cadre of gun-rights organizations has set its sights on New Jersey’s ban on the possession of common hollow-point ammunition outside the home for self-defense.
The Gun Owners of America (GOA), Gun Owners Foundation (GOF) and the Coalition of New Jersey Firearm Owners, alongside plaintiff Heidi Bergmann-Schoch, on February 5 filed a lawsuit challenging New Jersey’s unconstitutional ban on the purpose-made self-defense ammo. Bergmann-Schoch v. Platkin, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, argues that the state’s restrictions violate the Second and Fourteenth Amendments by preventing law-abiding citizens from possessing and carrying the most effective forms of self-defense ammunition available.
“Despite being widely used by law enforcement and civilians across the country for personal protection, New Jersey’s draconian laws prohibit the possession of commonly used hollow-point ammunition outside the home, leaving residents to carry substandard full metal jacket ammunition instead,” GOA said in a press release announcing the action. “The plaintiffs argue that there is no historical precedent for such a ban and cite Heller and Bruen as key Supreme Court decisions affirming their constitutional rights.”
The complaint states: “New Jersey’s law operates to deprive ‘the people’ of their Second Amendment rights while outside the home, notwithstanding the Second Amendment’s protections. This Court’s intervention is necessary to make it clear to New Jersey that it is not free to thumb its nose at the text of the Second Amendment or the opinions of the Supreme Court and that the Second Amendment is neither a ‘constitutional orphan’ nor a ‘second-class right.’”
Erich Pratt, GOA senior vice president, said New Jersey politicians shouldn’t be involved in deciding what ammunition citizens of the state should be able to use for self-defense purposes.
“The government does not get to decide for Americans what kind of books they may read, what brands of firearms they may own, or what kind of ammunition they can use,” Pratt said. “New Jersey’s unconstitutional ban on hollow points for self-defense outside the home is yet another example of anti-gun politicians disarming law-abiding citizens while criminals ignore the law. Self-defense is an enumerated right, and GOA will fight to ensure that New Jerseyans are no longer left vulnerable due to senseless restrictions.”
Sam Paredes with GOF echoed Pratt’s thoughts, also pointing out that the restriction is actually dangerous for New Jersey’s lawful gun owners.
“This lawsuit is about holding New Jersey accountable for trampling on the Second Amendment,” he said. “Hollow-point ammunition is the gold standard for self-defense, and restricting it to usage only in the home does nothing to prevent crime—it only endangers law-abiding citizens. The state has no authority to pick and choose which tools Americans can use to protect themselves.”
Ultimately, the lawsuit requests that the court declare the contested provisions unenforceable, unconstitutional, and in violation of the Second and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as to permanently prevent enforcement of the law.
“A contrary conclusion—that the Second Amendment protects firearms but not ammunition—is akin to holding that the First Amendment protects paper, but not ink,” the lawsuit states.
While this did tend to keep a lot of interest in various copper solids going (several of which successfully) this is a long time coming and hope to see AP (more federal to start) challenges in the coming years.
RE: “The plaintiffs argue that there is no historical precedent for such a ban and cite Heller and Bruen as key Supreme Court decisions affirming their constitutional rights.”
The plaintiffs should say Historical Analogies show 99.9% of Gun Control is Rooted in Racism…Therefore this ban is the Residue of Racism and cannot be allowed to stand anywhere in America.
Hey, is that the same broken record I hear? Everything’s about racism to you, Debbie. Go make me a sandwich.
But, Cloudbuster, she is not wrong.
And where’s the problem with some of us writing to GOA, GOF, and the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the NJ state government, as well as to our own representatives and senators?
To tell them that this is racist and should be ended because of that? I will, so why not you too? It’s just a few words; easy enough to type or write. If enough of us do that, eventually, one person will read it. And then two. And then four. And so on.
Humans have to be repetitive. It’s how our brains work. Don’t pooh-pooh Debbie’s suggestion; try it! I will.
Osprey…
Stick around for awhile. Deb’s constant hammering on the Raycism and Nahtzee drums for every detail of the gun control conversation will begin to make your eye twitch. Like Chinese water torture…a few drops aren’t a bother, but sit under the drip for a length of time and it’ll start to really annoy you.
A broken clock can be right twice a day, wouldn’t mean I would value it’s output. There used to be some interesting if less than useful content regarding AR’s but juice isn’t worth the squeeze.
My condolences to NJ residents, but y’all have a choice to make. Choose wisely.
It’s a tough row to hoe going up against the borg.
Ain’t it about time for Mynr/er/49/Missy to pop in and say something along the lines of ” You should be limited to round musket balls – the Minié wasn’t even invented until the 1850s”, or some other stupid “History Lesson” comment?
He/she/they/it remind me of when my mom called my elderly dad on his way home from errands and warned him “I just saw on a traffic report there’s someone driving the wrong way on your route back, be careful”
To which he replied ” Oh, it’s way worse than that – the stupid damn idiots are ALL going the wrong way !! “
Who cares what a broken man has to say? That it rambles in falsehoods for years merely makes it acceptable to mock rather than pity.
Okay, that was funny!
And I can say that because some drunk a-hole almost killed me when he was driving the wrong way on the freeway. Luckily for me, Nissan made at least one car that was able to save a life.
Round soft lead balls leave an impressive wound channel.
BREAKING 2A NEWS JUST NOW: TRUMP MAKES BIG LEGAL MOVES TO NEUTER THE ATF.
President Trump’s DOJ is submitting new court filings based on his 2A Executive Order is great news for 2A rights. Mark Smith Four Boxes Diner discusses.
h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QSAUTLkHDg
I passed through NJ a couple of times. Two handguns loaded with Speer Gold Dot. Galil and four spare 35 Rd mags full of Federal Tactical bonded core. They can kiss my ass.
New Jersey certainly was impotent when it came to approving Carole Brown’s permit in a timely manner, and they sure didn’t give her a security detail the night her violent ex killed her with a knife.
Restraining orders are not worth the toilet paper they’re printed on.
Be thankful you wasn’t stopped x cop or not.
so since I’m responsible for every round that leaves the gun, can I now blame the government it it goes through a criminal and into someone else ? The state is making me use substandard ammo. How’s about that someone else sueing the state. Something to ponder!
Hornady Critical Duty has a “flex-tip” insert, so it’s not technically a hollow point round.
https://www.hornady.com/ammunition/critical-duty#!/
This is what most people in NJ carry.
I gave no reason to be stopped. I’ve driven all over the NE armed to the gills. MA, NJ, NY, CT, PA, VT, Etc. Can’t remember if I passed through MA. If I did I didn’t stop. One thing I noticed is those states are so small. I was crossing state lines up there like I do county lines around here. If weren’t going to carry a firearm I’d have never left the house.
One crime at a time. Amazing how a bit of discipline can make most laws unenforceable.
Well-known case from about 12 years ago. Dude from Florida was driving home through Maryland after attending a family wedding up north. The presumption is the Maryland cops ran his plate, saw he had a carry permit and proceeded to terrorize him and his family for the next three hours. Just because.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/30/gun-owners-fear-maryland-cops-target-them-for-traf/
With the way the 3rd circuit decides cases this should be decided sometime in the late 2030’s. It’s been 490 days since they heard oral arguments on a preliminary junction on the Bruen response bill and still no decision.