NJ Gun Law Struck Down In Court For 3rd Time In A Month

TRENTON, NJ — A federal judge dealt another blow Tuesday to a recently passed state law backed by gun-control advocates. The decision temporarily halts a measure allowing the attorney general to sue firearm businesses for certain public-nuisance violations.

Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, appointed by President Joe Biden, granted a preliminary injunction in favor of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms-trade association suing the state. The ruling temporarily rescinds New Jersey's ability to enforce the law, passed last July, as the litigation plays out.

The ruling marks the second time this week and third time in a month that a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order against one of the state's recently passed firearm restrictions. In the other two decisions, the court temporarily rolled back portions of a state law prohibiting the public from carrying firearms in certain "sensitive" locations.

• Read more: Judge Strikes Down NJ Gun Restrictions In Temporary Order

The first two decisions came from Judge Renée Marie Bumb, a George W. Bush appointee who Gov. Phil Murphy's administration previously blasted as "a right-wing federal judge." But in Tuesday's ruling, a Biden-appointed judge brought doubts to the constitutionality of New Jersey's law against the gun industry.

The legal challenge centers around the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act — a federal law passed in 2005. The regulation protects firearms manufacturers and dealers from liability when someone commits a crime with their products, with exceptions such as damages resulting from defective products, breach of contract or when there's reason to believe a purchaser will use the gun for a crime.

The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General contends that the 2005 law doesn't prevent state laws from imposing liability regulations like New Jersey's. But the judge National Shooting Sports Foundation argued that the U.S. law trumps state legislation.

Quraishi found the firearm-trade group's argument "likely to succeed on its merits," expressing "concerns as to whether ... (the state law) can survive on Constitutional grounds."

Quraishi also pointed to vagueness in the law, with no concrete direction in its requirement for "gun industry members to establish and implement reasonable procedures, safeguards, and business practices for the sale, manufacture, distribution, importing, and marketing of gun-related products."

As a result, the judge concluded that the law, without a preliminary injunction, could cause irreparable harm to the firearm industry and that enforcing a potentially unconstitutional law goes against public interest.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation was pleased with the ruling, says Lawrence G. Keane, the group's senior vice president.

"The bottom line is that Congress specifically addressed these sorts of harassing and baseless lawsuits when PLCAA was passed with an overwhelming bipartisan majority and signed into law by President George W. Bush," Keane said in a news release. "The court correctly pointed out in its opinion that New Jersey’s law directly conflicts with the intention of Congress."

But Platkin has hope for the state's case, pointing to the foundation's lawsuit against New York for a similar regulation. A federal judge ruled last May in favor of a New York State law that allowed civil lawsuits against companies for conduct that endangers public safety, concluding that the 2005 federal law didn't limit the liability gun manufacturers and dealers can face.

"The district court’s decision enjoining New Jersey’s public nuisance law is unprecedented and unsupportable," Platkin said in a statement to Patch. "The New Jersey Legislature acted lawfully when it adopted public nuisance legislation to hold the gun industry accountable, and nothing in federal law allows firearms manufacturers to violate our state statutes with impunity."