In layman’s terms: Gun rights groups are asking the Third Circuit Appeals Court to rehear the case on sensitive places carry bans with a full panel of judges to address the flawed ruling that a single judge issued on September 10.
On October 8, the plaintiffs in New Jersey’s massive lawsuit against the state’s “carry killer” bill and its sensitive places prohibitions filed a petition with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear the case en banc.
This motion was initiated after the Third Circuit’s September 10 decision in Koons v. Platkin, which came almost two years after oral arguments on the motion for preliminary injunction. The September decision was aggressively hostile to the Second Amendment and very much an activist ruling, as we pointed out in our lengthy analysis.
The en banc petition filed by plaintiffs (including Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc., Coalition of New Jersey Firearm Owners, and New Jersey Second Amendment Society, along with Ronald Koons) lays out a clear groundwork for the court’s consideration:
…based on a reasoned and studied professional judgment, that the panel decision is contrary to a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States, and that consideration by the full court is necessary therefore to secure and maintain uniformity of the court’s decisions.
Second Amendment Foundation made the following statement on X addressing this petition:
This critical challenge targets New Jersey’s post-Bruen gun control scheme, which turns the right to bear arms into a privilege by requiring “reputable person” endorsements and designating nearly everywhere as a “sensitive place” where carry is banned.
The panel’s decision defies Supreme Court precedents in Bruen and Rahimi, allowing states to eviscerate your Second Amendment rights. We’re fighting to ensure law-abiding citizens can carry for self-defense without unconstitutional hurdles.
FPC President Brandon Combs made the following statement in an email:
States cannot erase the right to carry by declaring everyday places off-limits, but that is exactly what New Jersey has done. Worse, the Third Circuit panel all but blessed the state’s unconstitutional scheme. The full Third Circuit Court of Appeals must correct this failure and faithfully apply both the Second Amendment and binding Supreme Court precedent.
