Gun Owners of America (GOA), Gun Owners Foundation (GOF), and the Coalition of New Jersey Firearm Owners (CNJFO) are suing Attorney General Matthew Platkin of New Jersey and a slew of other state officials over the state’s ban on hollow point ammunition.
New Jersey bans hollow point bullets unless under specific circumstances, except for law enforcement officers. These circumstances include rounds stored on private property, transported for use in hunting or fishing, or target practice. New Jersey Residents are prohibited from using the rounds outside the home for self-defense. New Jersey claims these rounds are more dangerous than full metal jacket ammunition because the bullet expands on impact, and that makes the ammo more dangerous. A person violating the law can be charged with a felony and faces up to 18 months in prison.
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Gun owners disagree with the state’s reasoning. Most gun owners choose to carry hollow point rounds for self-defense because full metal jacket ammunition has issues with over-penetration. This over-penetration can lead to unintended collateral damage. Because hollow point bullets expand on impact and transfer energy into the target, there is less chance of the bullet passing through the target and hitting an unintentional target. Gun owners claim instead of making the bullets more dangerous that, hollow points make the rounds safer.
The three gun rights groups teamed up to sue the state over its ban in Bergmann-Schoch v. Platkin. They believe that the law violates the Second Amendment. They point to the Heller decision, where the Supreme Court said that arms in common use cannot be banned. Since SCOTUS ruled that ammunition and other items that are needed for a gun to function are protected arms and hollow points are the most popular round for self-defense, it means that New Jersey’s ban is unconstitutional.
The plaintiffs also highlight that the New Jersey ammo ban fails the Bruen standard. For a gun law to be constitutional under Bruen, the law must be consistent with the text, tradition, and history of the Second Amendment. Since the plaintiffs are part of the people and ammunition is protected by the Second Amendment, it will be up to the state to prove that the law is consistent with the nation’s history of firearms regulations.
The state must present historical analogues from the founding era to the court to show the ban is consistent with the Second Amendment. They will be hard-pressed to do that since hollow point ammunition has been around since the 1800s. Banning the rounds is a modern phenomenon.
Hollow points have been called “cop killers” by anti-gun groups since the 1980s. Instead of ignoring this rhetoric, the plaintiffs address this misnomer by explaining that police wear body armor and all body armor used by law enforcement can stop handgun rounds. This fact means that hollow point bullets do not increase the risk to police, which was one of the reasons that New Jersey gave for banning the round.
The brief reads: “Moreover, ‘[t]oday, police officers almost universally wear body armor. The most common body armors worn by police fall into the National Institute of Justice’s Level IIA, II, or IIIA standards, all of which are designed to stop pistol-caliber bullets. Hollow point bullets are no greater threat to police than FMJ [‘ball’] rounds. Calling them ‘cop killer’ bullets is a rhetorical device designed to stigmatize them.’”
If the case is successful New Jersey residents will be able to join the rest of the country and use the safest form of self-defense ammunition in their carry guns.
About John Crump
Mr. Crump is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people from all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons, follow him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
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