September 22, 2026
Katie Goodale/USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
Gun rights advocates are suing New Jersey to overturn state restrictions on the use of weapons like stun guns, above.
Gun rights advocates have a new target in their crusade to strike down New Jersey's longstanding prohibitions on weapons, suing Monday to overturn state restrictions on the use of items like knives, stun guns, slingshots, brass knuckles, bear spray, and bats for self-defense.
The Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs, Arizona-based Knife Rights, and four New Jersey gun owners are asking a federal judge to declare the restrictions illegal and unenforceable under the Second Amendment, saying they prevent people from using less-lethal tools than guns for self-defense.
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"The Second Amendment protects all common arms not just guns," attorney Daniel Schmutter wrote in the complaint filed Monday in federal court.
But anything can be a prohibited weapon under New Jersey law, he added.
"A baseball bat, a hammer, a screwdriver, any knife, a box cutter, pepper spray, bear spray, a stick, anything," Schmutter wrote. "And if you happen to have a baseball bat in your car but you are not on your way to a baseball game, you can be arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned under New Jersey law."
The new lawsuit comes four years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people have a constitutional right to carry firearms outside their homes, toppling restrictions like New Jersey's that required gun owners to prove a need to carry arms in public.
Under that decision, known as Bruen, the justices decreed that any gun restrictions had to be rooted in historical traditions that existed when the Second Amendment was ratified in the late 1700s.
At that time, arms were defined as "anything that a man wears for his defence, or takes into his hands, or useth in wrath to cast at or strike another," Schmutter wrote, citing a 1771 legal dictionary.
"Arms come in many forms, not just guns," Schmutter wrote. "While the Bruen decision has forced New Jersey to allow the carry of guns for self-defense, New Jersey law still explicitly bans and punishes the carry of common, everyday objects other than firearms specifically for the purpose of self-defense. That flies in the face of Bruen and must change. This case aims to do just that."
The suit names as defendants Attorney General Jennifer Davenport and Jeanne Hengemuhle, acting superintendent of the New Jersey State Police.
A spokesman for Davenport's office, which also oversees the state police, vowed to defend the state against the lawsuit "and do all we can to end violence in our state."
"New Jersey's commonsense restrictions on weapons keep our residents safe," spokesman Mike Symons said.
The named plaintiffs include Wendy Copenhaver of Hammonton and her brother Wayne Viden of Glassboro, who own a gun range in Glassboro; Walter Everard Jr. of Hopatcong, a hunter, retired pipefitter, and Navy veteran; and Salvatore Marsilla of Emerson, who owns an automotive retail store.
The lawsuit is just the latest of more than a dozen gun-rights advocates have filed in recent years to challenge restrictions they say violate the Second Amendment. They also have challenged a law banning guns in places deemed sensitive, a law allowing the state to sue gun manufacturers for creating a "public nuisance," and state restrictions on large-capacity magazines and certain semiautomatic firearms, among others.
New Jersey Monitor is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Jersey Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Terrence T. McDonald for questions: info@newjerseymonitor.com.
