![Federal appeals court upholds New Jersey ammunition limit](https://www.jurist.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/03/shutterstock_657639088.jpg)
The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Wednesday upheld New Jersey’s law limiting the amount of ammunition that can be held in a single firearm magazine.
New Jersey established the law in response to the dramatic spike in active and mass shootings in the twenty-first century. The court cited statistics to show the 160-percent increase in active and mass shootings from 2006 to 2015. The law places a 10-round limit on the amount of ammunition that can be held in a single firearm magazine at one time. Those exempt from the law include active and retired law enforcement officers, and active military members.
On the same day the bill was signed into law, the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs and two of its members filed the lawsuit, seeking to strike down the law as unconstitutional and enjoin law enforcement officials from enforcing it.
The court upheld the law in accordance with the lower court’s decision, saying:
New Jersey’s law reasonably fits the State’s interest in public safety and does not unconstitutionally burden the Second Amendment’s right to self-defense in the home. The law also does not violate the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause because it does not require gun owners to surrender their magazines but instead allows them to retain modified magazines or register firearms that have magazines that cannot be modified.
The court further held that the law’s exemption for law enforcement officials does not violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection clause because they “have training and experience that makes them different from ordinary citizens.” The court also struck down the request for an injunction against the law’s enforcement.