NJ's AR-15 Ban Dies July 31 — State Police Just Told Every Dealer
NJSP emailed licensed dealers the Third Circuit kill-shot is real and the clock is running — but AG Platkin's compliance guidance is still MIA.
- AR-15s and standard-capacity magazines are no longer banned in New Jersey as of July 31, 2026 — the Third Circuit's en banc ruling in *ANJRPC v. Platkin* struck down both bans as unconstitutional under *Bruen*.
- New Jersey State Police confirmed the effective date directly to licensed dealers, making it an official government acknowledgment AG Platkin cannot walk back.
- The ruling binds all federal district courts in the Third Circuit — Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware — setting a strong regional precedent against similar bans.
- Dealers should wait for the AG's official compliance guidance before making inventory or sales changes; Platkin's office controls that timeline and delay is the most likely obstruction tactic.
The NJSP Firearms Dealer Investigation Unit sent the email directly, citing the en banc ruling in *ANJRPC v. Platkin* and confirming the effective date in writing. No ambiguity. No wiggle room. The Third Circuit spoke, and now New Jersey's own law enforcement is putting it in dealers' inboxes.
Green Brook dealer Middlebrook Firearms published the email on Facebook and told customers it would keep following existing state and federal law until official compliance guidance arrived. **Smart move.** The state that just lost in court would still arrest a dealer who jumped early without legal cover — and Platkin knows it.
That's the play here. Platkin controls the guidance timeline. His office decides when — or whether — dealers get the clear, unambiguous instructions they need to start selling AR-15s and standard-capacity magazines again. Every day that document doesn't land is another day New Jersey gun owners can't exercise rights a federal appeals court just confirmed they have.
**The ban is dead. The stall is alive.**
Watch for the AG to slow-walk the instructions past July 31, attach conditions the Third Circuit never authorized, or float some creative legal theory that lets enforcement quietly continue under a different label. Platkin has no viable path to an emergency Supreme Court stay — but he doesn't need one if dealers are too frozen to move.
What he can't do anymore is pretend the ruling doesn't exist. New Jersey's own State Police have now officially, publicly, in writing told the entire licensed dealer community the ban is finished. The clock isn't just running — it's on the scoreboard.
The Third Circuit's en banc decision is a landmark Second Amendment win. The full court found New Jersey's rifle and magazine bans unconstitutional under *Bruen*, and that ruling now binds every federal district court in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. It's not a panel opinion Platkin can distinguish away. It's the law of the circuit.
**July 31 is days out. The guidance still isn't here. Watch Platkin's next move like your rights depend on it — because they do.**
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