There are several states hostile to the Second Amendment, but New Jersey leads the way in prohibiting a popular form of ammunition.
In 1978, the Garden State enacted a ban on hollow point rounds, something clearly unique in the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulations. It is impossible to find evidence of such restrictions during the Founding Era as required by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Now, a lawsuit challenging New Jersey’s ban is inching forward.
There is finally movement in the challenge to NJ hollow point ban
Plaintiffs filed Bergmann-Schoch v. Platkin in February 2025. They included Gun Owners of America (GOA), Gun Owners Foundation (GOF), the Coalition of New Jersey Firearm Owners (CNJFO), and a private citizen.
The suit has been mostly inactive, but this week the plaintiffs filed for a summary judgment. This seeks to avoid the rigors of a trial and generally results when there appears to be a clear legal outcome for the case.
Gun rights supporters believe the facts speak for themselves and should lead to the requested outcome. Under current law, someone found to illegally possess hollow point rounds faces a fourth-degree charge, up to 18 months behind bars, and a $10,000 fine PER CARTRIDGE.
There is no historical tradition of dictating legal ammunition
“Indeed, the Framers never restricted the types of ammunition people could carry,” the litigants wrote in the summary judgment motion. “The same is true of the Reconstruction generation, which saw the introduction of conical bullets, brass cartridges, and thereafter hollow point ammunition, but never banned any of it for public carry.”
The plaintiffs called New Jersey’s gun control regime an “outlier” even among its anti-gun colleagues.
In a statement released when the suit was filed, GOA Senior Vice President Erich Pratt observed that the federal government cannot tell Americans “what kind of books they may read, what brands of firearms they may own, or what kind of ammunition they may use.”
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