UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _______________

No. 23-1214 _______________

NATIONAL SHOOTING SPORTS FOUNDATION

v.

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF NEW JERSEY, Appellant _______________

On Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (D.C. No. 3:22-cv-06646) District Judge: Honorable Zahid N. Quraishi _______________

Argued: June 7, 2023 Before: HARDIMAN, BIBAS, and FREEMAN, Circuit Judges

(Filed: August 17, 2023) Timothy Sheehan Michael L. Zuckerman [ARGUED] OFFICE OF ATTORNEY GENERAL OF NEW JERSEY 25 Market Street Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex Box 080 Trenton, NJ 08625 Counsel for Appellant Eric A. Tirschwell EVERYTOWN LAW 450 Lexington Avenue P.O. Box 4148 New York, NY 10017 Counsel for Amici Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence Sarah A. Hunger OFFICE OF ATTORNEY GENERAL OF ILLINOIS 100 W. Randolph Street 12th Floor Chicago, IL 60601 Counsel for Amici Illinois, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Maryland, Mas- sachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washing- ton, and Wisconsin Timothy M. Haggerty Rupita Chakraborty Alexandra G. Elenowitz-Hess FRIEDMAN KAPLAN SEILER ADELMAN & ROBBINS 7 Times Square 28th Floor New York, NY 10036 Counsel for Amicus Legal Scholars

2 James P. Davy ALL RISE LAW P.O. Box 15216 Philadelphia, PA 19125 Counsel for Amicus Ryan Busse Gretchen A. Pickering CAPE MAY COUNTY OFFICE OF PROSECUTOR 4 Moore Road DN-110 Cape May Court House, NJ 08210 Counsel for Amicus County Prosecutor’s Association of New Jersey Paul D. Clement Erin E. Murphy [ARGUED] CLEMENT & MURPHY 706 Duke Street Alexandria, VA 22314 Counsel for Appellee Joshua N. Turner OFFICE OF ATTORNEY GENERAL OF IDAHO 514 W. Jefferson Street P.O. Box 83720 Boise, ID 83720 Counsel for Amici Idaho, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming

3 David B. Kopel INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE 727 East 16th Avenue Denver, CO 80203 Counsel for Amicus Independence Institute _______________

OPINION OF THE COURT _______________ BIBAS, Circuit Judge. Federal courts are not forecasters. The Constitution limits our jurisdiction to disputes that have ripened fully. We may not prejudge hypothetical cases or offer legal advice. Instead, par- ties must first be injured before coming to us for redress. Only then do we react. When constitutional rights are at stake, we accelerate that timeline—but only slightly. We may hear a case before a person’s rights are violated only if the threat is imminent. The National Shooting Sports Foundation challenges a new state gun law as violating its members’ constitutional rights. But we see little evidence that enforcement is looming. Be- cause the Foundation has jumped the gun, its challenge must be dismissed. I. NEW JERSEY’S LAW AND THE FOUNDATION’S LAWSUIT Last year, New Jersey passed a law to combat “bad actors in the gun industry.” N.J. Stat. § 2C:58-33(a). The Law empow- ers the state’s Attorney General—and only the Attorney Gen- eral—to sue gun-industry members whose “unlawful … or

4 unreasonable” conduct “contribute[s] to a public nuisance in [New Jersey] through the sale, manufacturing, distribution, im- porting, or marketing of a gun-related product.” § 2C:58- 35(a)(1). It also requires industry