Slate lamented in a column on July 24 the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit striking down New Jersey’s “assault weapons” ban and claimed it gives SCOTUS “cover” to strike down such bans more broadly.
Breitbart News reported that the Third Circuit’s ruling was handed down on July 17, 2026. In that ruling, the majority made clear that the state’s ban failed to survive the Bruen (2022) test, which is a two-tiered test examining the historicity and tradition of firearms and firearms regulation in America.
The majority opinion for the 3rd Circuit decision was written by Judge Ariana Freeman, a Biden appointee. This fact was not lost on Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern, as the astounded duo noted that Freeman is a “progressive appointee” who ruled that the millions of AR-15s in circulation prove they are in “common use for self-defense” and therefore protected by the Second Amendment.
Hellbound and Down 