FPC Wants Summary Judgement in Challenge to NJ’s SBR Ban

Short-barreled rifles have been unfairly demonized as being particularly dangerous. Why? Because the National Firearms Act regulated them just the same as a machine gun. For many, that’s enough.

Never mind that they were on the list because handguns were originally on there, too, and lawmakers figured some would use short-barreled rifles as a replacement. When handguns were removed from the bill, no one bothered to remove short-barreled long guns. That’s it. It’s on the NFA list because of an oversight.

Not that an anti-gun state like New Jersey cares about such historical facts. They’ve banned the guns entirely, and the FPC challenged the ban. Now, the group is asking for a summary judgment in the case.

A major pro-gun rights group is pushing the United States District Court for the District of New Jersy for an end to the state’s blanket ban on short-barreled rifles (SBRs).

In the case FPC v. Platkin, the Firearms Policy Coalition on February 18 filed a motion for summary judgment, urging the court to enjoin the??[sic] State’s SBR ban.

In the motion for summary judgment, FPC argues that New Jersey’s short-barreled rifle ban is unconstitutional under the Supreme Court’s settled Second Amendment framework.

“New Jersey’s law is not a regulation; it is a categorical ban,” the motion states. “It criminalizes mere possession of a class of rifles based on an arbitrary measurement—turning an otherwise lawful rifle into contraband by a fraction of an inch—and backs that prohibition with years of imprisonment. That is a severe burden on the constitutionally protected right to ‘keep and bear.’”

FPC President Brandon Combs said the ban is a “travesty” that should be done away with once and for all.

I agree.

There’s no historical analog from the time of the nation’s founding that supports such a categorical ban on a firearm. Nothing at all. Based on the Bruen decision, New Jersey doesn’t have a leg to stand on. There’s zero reason not to grant the summary judgment.

But the court won’t.

For all the hysteria about SBRs, the reality is that if someone wants to use an SBR for nefarious purposes, no law on the planet is going to stop them. After all, short-barreled upper receivers for things like AR-15s aren’t regulated as firearms. They can be purchased easily enough and dropped into an AR receiver with no tooling required. It’s like Barbie for gun people.

You can’t stop them from doing it, no matter what.

As a result, New Jersey’s ban is purely directed at the lawful ownership of these guns, and those who are going to obey the law aren’t the problem in the first place. Unfortunately, the judge won’t make that call unilaterally, so there will be a day in court where all of this can be presented, then I suspect the district court will rule in New Jersey’s favor, not because of the merits of the case, but because the District of New Jersey isn’t exactly drawing from the most pro-gun crowd.

Then we get to the circuit court level, and rehash all of this, and maybe we’ll see something useful come, but I won’t hold my breath on that one, either.

Still, sooner or later, someone’s going to come to their senses and recognize that New Jersey has gone too far with this ban. It might take the Supreme Court to decide it, but it’s got to happen eventually.

I just hope I’m alive to witness it go down in flames.

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