Gun Groups Challenge New Jersey Firearm Silencer, Rifle Bans

New Jersey laws banning gun silencers and short-barreled rifles are unconstitutional, according to two separate federal lawsuits brought against the state by New Jersey residents, the National Rifle Association, and the Firearms Policy Coalition.

Both lawsuits, filed Friday in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey, say the bans don’t pass muster under the US Supreme Court’s gun-rights test, established in the 2022 decision N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, that requires states to show their gun laws are consistent with the nation’s history of firearm regulation.

In one lawsuit, three New Jersey residents and the NRA challenge the state’s law criminalizing gun silencers, except when used during deer hunting. The groups argue suppressors have been lawfully used since the early 20th century for reducing noise pollution in neighborhoods, and were not federally regulated until 1934.

“By banning suppressors, New Jersey effectively bans suppressed firearms, and suppressed firearms are ‘arms,’” and protected under the Second Amendment, the complaint says.

In the other lawsuit, the Firearms Policy Coalition challenges the state’s ban on short-barreled rifles that are often used for self-defense, training, and competition. Possession of a short-barreled rifle—which has a barrel length of less than 16 inches or overall length of less than 26 inches—is a third-degree crime under New Jersey law.

Short-barreled rifles and their predecessors, including colonial blunderbusses and 19th-century pocket rifles, have been used throughout history for defense, hunting, and war. Modern versions “mirror these traditions, with no disproportionate criminal use,” the complaint says.

Hartman & Winnicki PC and Cooper & Kirk represent the NRA and other plaintiffs in the suppressor ban lawsuit. Whiteford, Taylor & Preston LLP represents the Firearms Policy Coalition in the short-barreled rifle ban lawsuit.

The cases are Padua v. Platkin, D.N.J., No. 1:25-cv-13527, complaint filed 7/18/25 and Firearms Pol’y Coal. Inc. v. Platkin, D.N.J., No. 3:25-cv-13522, complaint filed 7/18/25.