WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court On Monday, he refused to hear a challenge to Maryland’s gun law banning assault-style weapons. AR-15 semi-automatic rifleused in various high-profile mass shootings.
For now, the decision not to hear the case leaves the ban in effect in the state. Litigation over the ban and similar laws passed by other states is ongoing, and the matter is likely to go back to court. The court has appealed a similar law in Illinois.
The Supreme Court has been at the center of the gun rights debate since its 2022 decision that expanded rights under the Constitution’s Second Amendment. The decision led to both state laws being upheld and old laws being overturned by judges applying the new judges’ test.
Maryland law bans what the state defines as “assault weapons,” similar to weapons of war like the M16 rifle. Prohibited firearms include the AR-15. The state law was passed in 2013 after the Sandy Hook school shooting that killed 20 children and 6 adults last year.
The law was challenged in a previous lawsuit and upheld by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. But after the 2022 gun rights ruling, a new set of plaintiffs filed suit, and the Supreme Court ordered an appeals court to take a second look at the issue.
The appellate court still hasn’t made a decision after nearly two years. The plaintiffs preferred to take that step at trial and instead asked the Supreme Court to weigh in directly.
The court rarely hears such appeals.
The high court is currently weighing a follow-up work to a 2022 ruling on a long-standing law barring firearms for those charged with domestic violence. In a separate gun case, the court is also considering whether to overturn a federal ban.shares,” a type of gun accessory that allows semi-automatic rifles to be fired rapidly.