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First Circuit Issues Decision in Ocean State Tactical v. Rhode Island
A First Circuit 3-judge panel has upheld the Rhode Island confiscatory large-capacity magazine ban using essentially identical anti-gun distortions of Heller and misapplications of Bruen as other liberal-leaning courts across the nation. The actual ruling provides nothing new, but Duke Center for Firearms Law published an excellent overall summary of the legal landscape at this present moment.
On March 7, a three-judge panel of the First Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in Ocean State Tactical v. Rhode Island upholding Rhode Island's ban on large capacity magazines (LCMs) capable of holding more than ten rounds of ammunition - which was enacted in June 2022 just days before the Bruen decision. A Rhode Island district judge had previously denied a motion to enjoin the law as violating the Second Amendment in a December 2022 opinion (we covered that ruling here). The First Circuit affirmed the judgment, albeit based on a slightly different legal analysis than the district judge. The decision highlights how crucial Supreme Court guidance on class-of-arms restrictions is at the current moment, as other similar challenges work their way up to the appellate level and the Supreme Court.
Ocean State is now the second federal appellate decision in this category since Bruen, following Bevis. As Jake Charles summarized in this prior post, other assault weapon ban challenges are pending in Maryland, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington, and Colorado. Several of those cases are at the appellate level. After a lengthy post-argument delay, the Fourth Circuit took the Maryland case (Bianchi v. Brown) directly en banc and the full circuit court will hear argument on March 20. District Judge Roger Benitez struck down California's AWB in an October decision in Miller v. Bonta and invalidated the state's LCM ban in an earlier ruling in Duncan v. Bonta. Those rulings were stayed by the Ninth Circuit pending the state's appeal (with the Duncan stay issued by an en banc court). Miller was argued on January 24, 2024, but the three-judge panel in the case then issued an order holding that case in abeyance (with the stay intact) pending an en banc decision in Duncan where oral argument is set for March 19.
A Third Circuit panel heard argument in a Second Amendment challenge to Delaware's AWB and LCM ban on March 11 in Delaware State Sportsmen's Association (the district court decision in that case relied on Bowie knife laws and machine-gun bans, in a similar manner as Ocean Tactical). Washington, D.C.'s LCM ban was upheld last spring, that ruling was appealed, and a D.C. Circuit panel held oral argument on February 13. We covered the D.C. and Delaware district court opinions in this prior post. A district judge upheld Massachusetts' AWB in December in Capen v. Campbell - that case is now on appeal to the First Circuit and will be fully briefed at the end of April, although the decision in Ocean State perhaps signals the likely outcome. Proceedings in the challenge to Washington's AWB are stayed pending the Ninth Circuit's en banc decision in Duncan. Oregon's LCM restriction (which was enacted by ballot initiative in 2022) was upheld by a district judge last July and is on appeal with proceedings similarly on hold while Duncan is argued and decided.
One interesting aspect of this ongoing litigation is that, because about 12-15 states have AWBs or LCM bans in place (with a lot of overlap), there are only certain circuit courts that could even conceivably pass on a Second Amendment challenge to such a law. The states with such laws in place are overwhelmingly concentrated in the First, Second, Third, Ninth, and D.C. Circuits. The only other circuits with even a chance of fielding such cases are the Fourth Circuit (due to Maryland), the Seventh Circuit (due to Illinois) and the Tenth Circuit (due to Colorado's LCM ban[3]); the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Eleventh Circuits will never deal with these challenges in the current regulatory landscape. I think that likely means that the Supreme Court may well take up an AWB or LCM ban case sooner rather than later, even without a direct circuit split.
On March 7, a three-judge panel of the First Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in Ocean State Tactical v. Rhode Island upholding Rhode Island's ban on large capacity magazines (LCMs) capable of holding more than ten rounds of ammunition - which was enacted in June 2022 just days before the Bruen decision. A Rhode Island district judge had previously denied a motion to enjoin the law as violating the Second Amendment in a December 2022 opinion (we covered that ruling here). The First Circuit affirmed the judgment, albeit based on a slightly different legal analysis than the district judge. The decision highlights how crucial Supreme Court guidance on class-of-arms restrictions is at the current moment, as other similar challenges work their way up to the appellate level and the Supreme Court.
Ocean State is now the second federal appellate decision in this category since Bruen, following Bevis. As Jake Charles summarized in this prior post, other assault weapon ban challenges are pending in Maryland, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington, and Colorado. Several of those cases are at the appellate level. After a lengthy post-argument delay, the Fourth Circuit took the Maryland case (Bianchi v. Brown) directly en banc and the full circuit court will hear argument on March 20. District Judge Roger Benitez struck down California's AWB in an October decision in Miller v. Bonta and invalidated the state's LCM ban in an earlier ruling in Duncan v. Bonta. Those rulings were stayed by the Ninth Circuit pending the state's appeal (with the Duncan stay issued by an en banc court). Miller was argued on January 24, 2024, but the three-judge panel in the case then issued an order holding that case in abeyance (with the stay intact) pending an en banc decision in Duncan where oral argument is set for March 19.
A Third Circuit panel heard argument in a Second Amendment challenge to Delaware's AWB and LCM ban on March 11 in Delaware State Sportsmen's Association (the district court decision in that case relied on Bowie knife laws and machine-gun bans, in a similar manner as Ocean Tactical). Washington, D.C.'s LCM ban was upheld last spring, that ruling was appealed, and a D.C. Circuit panel held oral argument on February 13. We covered the D.C. and Delaware district court opinions in this prior post. A district judge upheld Massachusetts' AWB in December in Capen v. Campbell - that case is now on appeal to the First Circuit and will be fully briefed at the end of April, although the decision in Ocean State perhaps signals the likely outcome. Proceedings in the challenge to Washington's AWB are stayed pending the Ninth Circuit's en banc decision in Duncan. Oregon's LCM restriction (which was enacted by ballot initiative in 2022) was upheld by a district judge last July and is on appeal with proceedings similarly on hold while Duncan is argued and decided.
One interesting aspect of this ongoing litigation is that, because about 12-15 states have AWBs or LCM bans in place (with a lot of overlap), there are only certain circuit courts that could even conceivably pass on a Second Amendment challenge to such a law. The states with such laws in place are overwhelmingly concentrated in the First, Second, Third, Ninth, and D.C. Circuits. The only other circuits with even a chance of fielding such cases are the Fourth Circuit (due to Maryland), the Seventh Circuit (due to Illinois) and the Tenth Circuit (due to Colorado's LCM ban[3]); the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Eleventh Circuits will never deal with these challenges in the current regulatory landscape. I think that likely means that the Supreme Court may well take up an AWB or LCM ban case sooner rather than later, even without a direct circuit split.
