Koons v. Platkin
Decision Date | 16 May 2023 |
Docket Number | Civil 22-7464 (RMB/AMD),22-7463 (RMB/AMD) |
Parties | RONALD KOONS, et al., Plaintiffs, v. MATTHEW PLATKIN, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the State of New Jersey, and PATRICK CALLAHAN, in his official capacity as Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, Defendants, and NICHOLAS SCUTARI, President of the New Jersey Senate, and CRAIG COUGHLIN, Speaker of the New Jersey Assembly, Intervenors-Defendants. |
Court | U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey |
David D. Jensen, Esq. David Jensen PLLC On behalf of the Koons Plaintiffs
Daniel L. Schmutter, Esq. Hartman & Winnicki, P.C. On behalf of the Siegel Plaintiffs
Angela Cai, Deputy Solicitor General
Jean Reilly, Assistant Attorney General David Chen, Deputy Attorney General Amy Chung, Deputy Attorney General Viviana Hanley, Deputy Attorney General Chandini Jha, Deputy Attorney General Samuel Rubinstein, Deputy Attorney General Office of the New Jersey Attorney General On behalf of Defendants Platkin and Callahan
Leon J. Sokol Cullen and Dykman, LLP Edward J. Kologi Kologi Simitz, Counselors at Law On behalf of Intervenors-Defendants Scutari and Coughlin
i. Historical Surety Laws………………………………….82
ii. Tort Law: Strict Liability against Gun Owners……….87
i. The Second Amendment Generally Applies on Government-Owned Property………………………..107
ii. Government Buildings as “Sensitive Places” Where Carrying Firearms can be Prohibited Consistent with the Second Amendment…………………………………..115
i. The Default Rule and the Second Amendment's Text…………………………………….118
ii. Historical Tradition: The Default Rule……………...131
iii. The Siegel Plaintiffs' First Amendment Challenge to the Default Rule……………………………………………145
iv. The Siegel Plaintiffs' Equal Protection Challenge to the Default Rule……………………………………………149
i. Public Gatherings, Demonstrations, and Events Requiring a Government Permit……………………..152
ii. Zoos…………………………………………………….168
iii. Parks, Beaches, Recreational Facilities, Playgrounds, and State Parks………………………………………...172
iv. Youth Sports Events…………………………………..178
v. Public Libraries and Museums……………………….179
vi. Bars and Restaurants Serving Alcohol……………….181
vii. Entertainment Facilities……………………………….182 viii. Casinos (and N.J. Admin. Code § 13:69D-1.13)……185
ix. Airports and Transportation Hubs……………………186
x. Health Care Facilities (Medical Offices and Ambulatory Care Facilities)…………………………..194
xi. Public Film Sets………………………………………..197
xii. Prohibition on Functional Firearms in Vehicles…….198
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” U.S. Const. amend. II. For more than 200 years after the Second Amendment's ratification, the meaning of these words went largely unaddressed by the Supreme Court of the United States. That all changed in 2008.
In District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court held the Second Amendment guarantees a private, individual right to keep and bear arms for self-defense. 554 U.S. 570, 592 (2008). At its core, the Heller Court found the Second Amendment guarantees “the right of law-abiding, responsible citizens to use arms in defense of hearth and home.” Id. at 635. Two years later, the Supreme Court found the Second Amendment's “right to keep and bear arms among those fundamental rights necessary to our system of ordered liberty” and ruled the Amendment applies equally to the federal government and states. McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742, 778, 791 (2010).
This past summer, the Supreme Court in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n v. Bruen held the Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms extends beyond the home and allows law-abiding citizens to carry firearms in public for self-defense. 597 U.S. ____, ____, 142 S.Ct. 2111, 2122 (2022). In doing so, the Bruen Court struck down as unconstitutional a law requiring law-abiding citizens to make a separate showing of need to carry a handgun in public. Id. at 2156. Bruen invalidated the law because “it prevent[ed] law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their right to keep and bear arms.” Id. Bruen also changed the landscape for Second Amendment challenges to firearm laws: “when the Second Amendment's plain text covers an individual's conduct,” the Constitution presumptively protects that conduct and the government must then justify its firearm law by showing “the regulation is consistent with this Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation.” Id. at 2126.
In Bruen's wake, New Jersey's Legislature sprang into action, amending the State's firearm laws in many ways. First, the Legislature dropped the State's firearm law requiring a person to show “justifiable need” to carry a handgun in public for self-defense-a requirement that Bruen explicitly struck down. Second, the Legislature created a list of 25 “sensitive places” where firearms are banned under threat of criminal prosecution. These places range from government-owned buildings, libraries, entertainment facilities, and restaurants that serve alcohol to all private property unless prior consent to carry is given. In enacting the sensitive places law, the...
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