The New Jersey Second Amendment Society [advocacy website] filed [complaint, PDF] a lawsuit on behalf of a New Jersey man, Mark Cheesman, against the state’s Attorney General [official website] in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey [official website] on Thursday alleging the state’s stun gun ban is unconstitutional. The complaint relies upon the Supreme Court’s ruling in Caetano v. Massachusetts [SCOTUSblog backgrounder] where the court held that prohibiting the possession of stun guns contradicts earlier Supreme Court rulings. Cheesman had tried to obtain a taser on Wednesday, but the company refused to sell to him due to the city’s ban. This lawsuit follows a similar lawsuit [WP report] challenging the stun gun ban in Washington DC.

Gun control [JURIST backgrounder] and the Second Amendment continue to be controversial topics across the US. In May the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the Second Amendment protects the right to buy and sell guns [JURIST report]. In January US President Barack Obama announced executive actions on gun control [JURIST report]. In November an appellate court in Wisconsin ruled that a state law that prohibits possession of certain knives [JURIST report] violates the Second Amendment right to bear arms.