07/31/2026
NEW JERSEY SEEKS TO APPEAL THIRD CIRCUIT AW / MAG BAN RULING TO U.S. SUPREME COURT
Requested Stay Could Put Favorable Ruling on Hold
July 31, 2026. Today, the New Jersey Attorney General asked the Third Circuit federal appeals court to pause (or “stay”) its July 17, 2026 ruling throwing out New Jersey’s longstanding “assault weapons” ban and magazine ban. If the Third Circuit grants the stay, New Jersey would still have to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the July 17 ruling in order to keep the stay in place. If the Third Circuit denies the stay, New Jersey could make the same request directly to the Supreme Court.
Importantly, New Jersey’s request pauses (until the stay application is decided) the issuance of the appeals court’s “mandate,” which is the directive issued to the trial court to implement the ruling.
For this reason, ANJRPC urges gun owners to wait until this stay application plays out in full before taking any action based on the Third Circuit’s excellent July 17 ruling.
With a Second Amendment-friendly majority on the Supreme Court, the question arises why New Jersey is seeking to appeal the Third Circuit’s ruling to the Supreme Court. The likely answer is, the issue is already headed there in unrelated cases from Illinois and Connecticut, as ANJRPC has previously reported. So New Jersey wants a seat at that table to try to influence the ultimate decision of the Supreme Court. New Jersey also is seeking to directly delay implementation of the Third Circuit’s July 17 ruling for as long as possible.
ANJRPC will continue to monitor, engage, and report to gun owners as this process develops.
Click the link below for the online version of this alert-
https://www.anjrpc.org/page/NJAppealingAWMagBanRuling