The Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a challenge to Maryland’s ban on so-called “assault weapons.”
Then-Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley signed the ban into law in May 2013. The court denied the petition for a writ of certiorari, according to a list of orders released Monday. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Republican AGs Join Push To Strike Down Blue State’s Semi-Auto Ban)
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit will issue an en banc ruling on the case, according to a post on X by the Firearms Policy Coalition. The Supreme Court initially granted a writ of certiorari after it invalidated New York’s “proper cause” requirement for pistol permits in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen in June 2022, but sent the case back to the Fourth Circuit for rehearing in light of the decision.
LEGAL UPDATE: The Supreme Court has denied the cert petition in our lawsuit challenging Maryland’s “assault weapon” ban. The case will now proceed to a decision in the Fourth Circuit, where oral arguments were held in March. https://t.co/CpAh5oTzbT pic.twitter.com/5jO3uDRYS7
— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) May 20, 2024
The Fourth Circuit heard oral arguments on the case March 20 after the case was re-opened in August 2022. Federal courts upheld the ban prior to the Bruen decision, according to a page on the case maintained by the Firearms Policy Center.
“Assault weapons” is a euphemism that gun-control advocates use to gain support for banning certain semi-automatic firearms with features that provide a cosmetic similarity to firearms capable of fully-automatic operation. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) estimated that over 24 million “modern sporting rifles,” which include the AR-15, are “in circulation,” according to a July 2022 release.
“What has incorrectly been termed an ‘assault weapon’ is a semi-automatic firearm that fires just one bullet with each pull of the trigger (versus a fully automatic firearm — machine gun — which continues to shoot until the trigger is released),” the NSSF said in a fact sheet.
The National Rifle Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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