TRENTON — New Jersey's gun laws, among the nation's toughest, will most likely face an avalanche of lawsuits in light of Monday's Supreme Court ruling, as activists test the statutes' constitutional mettle, experts said.

The Supreme Court case, McDonald v. Chicago, found individuals have a right to possess a handgun in their home for self-defense, but it also dismissed "doomsday proclamations" that its finding would strike down all local firearms regulations.

"The devil is in the details," said Earl Maltz, a professor at Rutgers-Camden. "You’re going to have a series of cases that talk about what’s a reasonable restriction and what’s not."

New Jersey’s extensive gun statutes may become ground zero in the coming litigation battles, said John Vincent Saykanic, a criminal defense attorney. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a gun-control group, ranked the state’s laws as the second strongest in the country after California’s.

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New Jersey’s gun statutes require a person to obtain a police-issued permit for each handgun purchased. Permit applications also require a series of state and federal background checks, including fingerprinting. There are also limits on semi-automatic weapons.

Bryan Miller, project director for Ceasefire NJ, said he was confident local laws would withstand judicial review.

"I don’t think this will have any effect on New Jersey’s laws," he said. "The court clearly said that state and local authorities have the ability to regulate guns, which is what we do here."

But the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, a gun-rights organization, hailed the court decision.

"The Garden State’s notoriously bad gun laws — which turn honest citizens into criminals yet fail to punish violent criminal behaviors — are certain to be tested," said Scott Bach, the group’s president.

WHAT THE RULING DOES

• The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms, now applies to state and local gun statutes.

• Federal courts will hear lawsuits testing the validity of gun control laws around the country.

• Individuals have a right to "possess a handgun in the home for the purpose of self-defense."

WHAT THE RULING DOES NOT DO

• Strike down the following gun control laws:

• Prohibitions on felons and mentally ill possessing firearms

• Statutes that forbid carrying firearms in sensitive places, like schools and government buildings

• Restrictions on the commercial sale of arms.

The state Attorney General’s office has begun a review of the ruling, a spokesman said.

Since the Supreme Court case dealt specifically with Chicago’s handgun ban, activists said New Jersey’s so-called one-handgun-a-month law will likely be the first in legal crosshairs.

The law, approved last year, prohibits individuals from buying more than one handgun every 30 days. It includes exemptions for recreational purposes and gun collectors.

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who supported the law’s passage, argued it did not violate the Supreme Court ruling.

"The laws that were in place in Chicago and Oak Park, Ill., were struck down because they were an outright ban on anyone having a handgun, even in their own home," he said in an e-mail. "Our laws do not prohibit a person from having a handgun."

But others were not so sure.

"(The law) doesn’t take away your right to bear arms, so in that sense, it may be upheld," said Alan Tarr, director of the Center for State Constitutional Studies at Rutgers-Camden. "But on the other hand, if you had a law that said you could only write one editorial a month, you’d run into trouble."