December 14, 2025
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
A federal appeals court will rehear a challenge to New Jersey's law banning guns in parks, bars, beaches and other 'sensitive places.' A three-judge panel upheld the law in September.
Gun owners looking to topple a New Jersey law banning guns in parks, bars, beaches, and other "sensitive places" have successfully persuaded a federal appeals court to rehear the case.
A three-judge panel rejected their arguments in a September ruling and largely upheld the law Gov. Phil Murphy signed in December 2022.
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But the gun owners in October asked that the full U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals reconsider the panel's ruling, which they contend conflicts with a June 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared gun carry a constitutional right.
On Thursday, Chief Judge Michael A. Chagares vacated the September ruling and granted a rehearing after a majority of the 3rd Circuit's active judges voted for a rehearing. Chagares was appointed to the appeals court by former President George W. Bush in 2006 and became the 3rd Circuit's chief judge in 2021. The rehearing is scheduled for Feb. 11.
September's ruling — based on arguments made in October 2023 — was not unanimous. U.S. Circuit Court Judge David J. Porter, an appointee of President Donald Trump, issued a fiery dissent accusing his colleagues of "selective reading and overreading of Supreme Court precedent, methodological mistakes, and anachronistic disdain for public carry (which) combine to generate constitutional error."
A majority of the judges on the full 3rd Circuit were appointed by Republicans, and most of them by Trump.
The Firearms Policy Coalition, one of the case's plaintiffs, celebrated Chagares' order.
"This significant development ensures that the entire court will evaluate the state's unconstitutional scheme under the proper historical and constitutional framework," the coalition said in an unsigned statement. "The prior panel's flawed decision — upholding key elements of the law — has been vacated, restoring the case to a posture where New Jersey's unlawful policies can be fully and fairly scrutinized."
Attorney General Matt Platkin said the panel that issued September's ruling "carefully and exhaustively studied the history and recognized that our statute was constitutional."
The state will continue to defend the law, Platkin said, saying it protects residents from gun violence.
"Laws like this one have improved law enforcement's ability to keep our community safe, and they have helped contribute to the dramatic reductions in gun violence and record low numbers of shootings and other violent crimes we have seen in recent years," Platkin said. "We look forward to continuing our defense of our critical sensitive-places law."
The law makes it a third-degree crime, punishable by up to five years imprisonment, to take guns into 25 sensitive spaces. Those include casinos, zoos, youth sporting events, public libraries and museums, concert venues, theme parks, transit hubs, churches, hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities, and movie sets.
That leaves people legally allowed to carry guns on private property with property owners' permission. They can also carry while hunting and fishing.
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.
