New Jersey’s Attorney General is once again asking a federal court to keep the state’s sweeping gun and magazine restrictions on the books while appeals grind forward, a move that underscores how anti-gun officials treat every temporary win as a permanent entitlement. The request comes on the heels of mixed rulings that have already chipped away at the ban’s reach, yet the AG’s office is framing continued enforcement as essential to “public safety,” a familiar refrain that conveniently ignores the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision and its demand for historical analogues rather than modern policy preferences. By racing to lock the restrictions in place, Trenton is betting that delay itself can function as a policy victory, forcing law-abiding residents to navigate a patchwork of enjoined and active rules for months, if not years.

For the 2A community, the maneuver is a textbook example of lawfare: use every procedural lever—stays, appeals, emergency applications—to keep infringements alive long after their constitutional footing has been questioned. The practical effect is predictable: FFLs face inventory headaches, trainers lose students who fear sudden rule changes, and ordinary citizens must weigh the cost of litigation against the simple desire to exercise a fundamental right. More broadly, the episode spotlights the growing divergence between Second Amendment jurisprudence at the Supreme Court and the regulatory instincts of deep-blue statehouses, a tension that will likely produce still more emergency dockets and last-minute stays before the issue is finally settled.