New Jersey can sue gun companies under public nuisance law, federal appeals panel rules

New Jersey can sue the gun industry under a "public nuisance" law, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday, handing a major victory to the state after last year's U.S. Supreme Court decision loosening public carrying restrictions.

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals' dismissal of a challenge brought by the National Shooting Sports Foundation last year comes as New Jersey and other states look for novel ways to balance public safety with gun rights under the high court's June 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen.

New Jersey's public nuisance law, signed by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy a month later, may offer a template to other states following Thursday's ruling, which said the shooting foundation "jumped the gun" in its challenge and did not justify the court's intervention. Other blue states, such as Delaware and California, have enacted similar measures designed to open the gun industry to legal action.

"Because the Foundation’s case is not yet fully formed, we will vacate the preliminary injunction and remand with instructions to dismiss this action for lack of jurisdiction," the court wrote.

Judge Zahid N. Quraishi had temporarily blocked the law from taking effect earlier this year, saying it appeared at odds with the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005, which shields the gun industry from lawsuits when their products are used during the commission of a crime. However, the ruling said that the foundation's theories of the law's harm to its members "fail" because they offered vague allegations, and it did not show a substantial threat of the law's enforcement.

The sports foundation disagreed with the decision and noted that it did not say the state law doesn't violate the federal commerce act, but "it clearly does."

“Should New Jersey’s attorney general attempt to enforce the law, we will immediately refile our complaint," Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president and general counsel for the foundation, said in a statement.

The Murphy administration signed the public nuisance law as part of a series of gun reforms. It is a relatively new approach that would allow the state to sue the firearms industry over public nuisance violations for the “sale, manufacturing, distribution, importing, or marketing of a gun-related product.” The state attorney general, Matt Platkin, created a new office "with the specific mandate of bringing civil enforcement actions against firearm companies." Platkin said New Jersey's was the first such office in the country.

"Our law never should have been enjoined, and now it will be back in effect in its entirety," Platkin said in a statement. He called the law "an important public safety tool" and the new office is "dedicated to holding accountable those whose unlawful conduct causes bloodshed, and fuels the gun violence epidemic, for the sake of their bottom line.”

Murphy said he is "thrilled" by the ruling and his administration "will always fight for the safety of New Jersey residents, even when it means taking on gun sellers that put profits above innocent lives."