Attorneys representing the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and a coalition of partners have filed a petition for en banc review with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in the ongoing challenge to New Jersey’s restrictive “sensitive places” firearms carry law.
The case, Koons v. Attorney General of New Jersey, challenges New Jersey’s legislative response to the 2022 landmark Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen.
The challenged law created numerous, overlapping categories of “sensitive places” where even individuals with a valid concealed carry permit are prohibited from carrying a firearm. SAF contends that this sweeping patchwork of restrictions was designed with the express intent of nullifying the fundamental right to carry a firearm for self-defense and encompasses virtually the entire state.
In September, a three-judge panel of the Third Circuit issued a decision that granted a partial victory to the Second Amendment advocates. The panel upheld the preliminary injunction that SAF had secured at the district court level, protecting the right to carry loaded, operable firearms in private vehicles and on private property open to the public without explicit owner consent or signage.
However, the same panel decision upheld the state’s bans on firearm carry in several public areas, including public transportation, public libraries and museums, entertainment venues, and places where alcohol is served.
SAF Director of Legal Operations Bill Sack stated that the entire Third Circuit needs to review the panel’s findings. “Major elements of the panel decision run contrary to both Third Circuit and Supreme Court law in ways which demand review by the entire Third Circuit,” Sack said. “By deriving overly broad generalizations to define what a ‘sensitive place’ actually is under the law, the panel decision improperly bars New Jersey residents from exercising their rights in many of the types of places people go during the course of normal life in a way entirely inconsistent with the demands of the Supreme Court.”
SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb characterized the state’s law as a retaliatory action against the Bruen ruling.
“After Bruen forced New Jersey to finally start issuing carry permits to its residents after decades of constitutional abuse, the state’s lawmakers responded by simply drawing a big circle around the entire state and calling it a ‘sensitive place’ where even permitted carry is banned,” Gottlieb said. “SAF’s membership and our attorneys see this bad faith law for exactly what it is: A cynical attempt by an anti-gun legislature to waste taxpayer money trying novel approach after novel approach to ban constitutionally protected conduct.”
The Second Amendment Foundation is joined in the litigation by the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Coalition of New Jersey Firearm Owners, the New Jersey Second Amendment Society, and four private citizens. The petition for en banc review requests that all judges of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals rehear the case to reconsider the panel’s ruling on the “sensitive places” restrictions.
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