FPC Files Response Brief in Its Previously Successful Challenge of NJ Assault Weapon Ban

The United States Supreme Court will finally hear a case challenging an assault weapon ban. Two bans, to be precise, and this is critical because we cannot overstate the impact of the midterm elections. While there's no chance of overriding a veto, that doesn't mean someone won't get clever and try to force a new federal assault weapon ban by sliding it into something that's a must-pass.

So now we've got the war of the briefs, which is not a fight in your underwear. This is what I call it when legal briefs fly back and forth to try and make each side's respective cases.

Like the Firearm Policy Coalition's recent brief.

Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced today that it filed a response brief with the United States Supreme Court in Davenport v. Cheeseman, defending its historic victory against New Jersey's unconstitutional bans on common semiautomatic rifles and firearm magazines. The filing asks the Court to hold New Jersey's petition for review until it decides FPC's landmark Viramontes v. Cook County case, which will be argued before the Supreme Court on December 2.

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New Jersey has now petitioned the Supreme Court to review that decision. But with the Justices already preparing to hear Viramontes, which presents the same fundamental question concerning bans on AR-15s and similar semiautomatic rifles, the State has asked the Court to hold the petition until it issues its decision. FPC agrees that the Supreme Court should hold the petition—but emphatically maintains that the Third Circuit correctly decided the case.

"New Jersey lost before the full Third Circuit, and we're not giving back an inch of that win. No amount of legal maneuvering by these tyrants changes the fact that New Jersey's bans on common semiautomatic rifles and magazines are unconstitutional. Now, with our Viramontes case being heard by the Supreme Court in just a few weeks, we're positioned to take that victory nationwide. FPC has spent years building the precedent, fighting these cases, and driving toward a national ruling that will end these bans once and for all. FPC and our Grassroots Army will continue to Fight Forward until every unconstitutional arms ban is eliminated, full stop," said FPC President Brandon Combs.

The Third Circuit most definitely decided this one correctly, and the FPC has every reason to hold onto that win. It was an important one, and based on my layman's understanding of Bruen and Wolford, there really isn't any wiggle room here. Interest balance is dead, and there's simply not any true analog to a category ban like New Jersey's assault weapon ban.

Everyone knows how this is going to go at the Supreme Court. Even the anti-gunners know they're going to lose this, though they're desperately trying to put up a brave front suggesting they think otherwise.

They'll be disappointed either way, but they know what's coming.

The Supreme Court has been clear on gun rights for the last handful of years, and the truth is that there's no chance of this surviving. While this case isn't on the docket, I don't see the justices deciding one way in Viramontes and then another in this case the next year.

Davenport v. Cheeseman is going to be another notch on the side of the FPC's old lawsuit printer. There's just no other way about it.

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