A high-stakes legal battle over where New Jersey residents can legally carry firearms is heading back to the courtroom, but this time, it will be heard by the entire bench. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to an en banc review of the lawsuit challenging the state’s controversial “sensitive places” restrictions, granting a significant procedural victory to gun rights advocates.
The case, Koons v. Attorney General of New Jersey, centers on a suite of laws enacted by Garden State legislators in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 landmark Bruen decision.
While Bruen affirmed the right to carry firearms in public for self-defense, New Jersey responded by creating extensive “sensitive places” where carrying is prohibited, even for those with valid concealed carry permits.
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Critics, including the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), argue that these overlapping exclusion zones cover nearly the entire state, effectively nullifying the right to carry.
The push for a full-court review comes on the heels of a split decision in October. A three-judge panel previously handed the SAF a partial win, upholding a preliminary injunction that allowed for the carry of loaded firearms in private vehicles and on private property open to the public (unless the owner posted signage prohibiting it). However, that same panel left numerous other “sensitive place” restrictions intact, prompting the SAF to petition for the full court to intervene.
“We are thrilled the court has agreed to hear this case with the full panel of judges,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut.
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Kraut contends that the restrictions surviving the initial three-judge review violate clear Supreme Court precedent. “The provisions left in place after the three-judge review fly in the face of not only the Second Amendment, but also the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bruen,” Kraut said. “We are optimistic the court will rule in our favor and finally stop infringing on the constitutional rights of New Jersey residents.”
The SAF is not fighting alone; the litigation includes the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Coalition of New Jersey Firearm Owners, the New Jersey Second Amendment Society, and four private citizens.
Kostas Moros, SAF’s Director of Legal Research and Education, described the state’s continued defense of the statutes as a “bad faith” effort to circumvent constitutional protections.
“Lawmakers in New Jersey are doing nothing more than wasting taxpayer money while at the same time continuing to infringe on the Second Amendment rights of residents,” Moros stated. “This thinly veiled attempt to make the Second Amendment a second-class right has to be stopped.”
A date for the en banc arguments has not yet been set.
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