“Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.” The scope of that exception, noted in the United States Supreme Court’s District of Columbia v. Heller opinion, was examined by the Third Circuit in an appeal challenging New Jersey’s new statutory restrictions on large-capacity magazines (LCMs) as a violation of the Second Amendment. Assoc. of N.J. Rifle & Pistol Clubs, Inc. at al. v. Atty. Gen. New Jersey et al., No. 18-3170 (3d Cir., Dec. 5, 2018).

There can be no doubt that the spate of gun violence in the United States in recent years is horrifying. There also is no doubt that not only has gun violence increased in general but that events of mass shootings also have increased. Some of this increased violence is the result of ever more sophisticated instruments of death, guns with the ability to shoot more bullets faster and with less effort or interruption than in earlier historic periods. Society must have the commonsense right to protect itself and, indeed, state governments have the corresponding obligation to try to protect their citizens from such wanton violence.