By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
It could take months before the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals issues a decision in a challenge of Delaware’s ban on so-called “assault weapons” and “large-capacity magazines.”
There are actually three challenges to the gun and magazine ban, including two involving the Second Amendment Foundation and Firearms Policy Coalition. SAF is involved in cases known as Graham v. Jennings and Gray v. Jennings. Another case involves the Delaware Strate Sportsmen’s Association. The actions were all filed in 2022.
The various legal actions are challenging the ban under the Second, Fifth and Fourteenth amendments.
According to WHYY News, Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings and New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin both argued in support of the gun ban.
Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Andrews, a Barack Obama appointee, denied a preliminary injunction. WCAU in Philadelphia reported that Judge Andrews did recognize the firearms and magazines are “presumptively protected by the Second Amendment but declined to issue an injunction.
The judge said plaintiffs in the case had “failed to demonstrate a likelihood of winning” the lawsuit, and he also said they had failed to show the couldn’t defend themselves with other available firearms, WCAU noted.
But in 2023, attorneys general from 20 states filed an amicus brief supporting the gun rights groups. The coalition, led by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, included attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
When SAF and its partners filed their lawsuit, SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb said in prepared statement, “By adopting this statute after the Supreme Court’s Bruen ruling, Delaware is clearly ignoring the court, and the Second Amendment. This case cuts right to the heart of our mission, which is to defend the rights of gun owners by challenging egregious gun control laws in court. This law is extremism on steroids, and cannot be allowed to stand.”
SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut noted that Delaware Gov. John Carney quickly signed the ban legislation, known as House Bill 450, a week after the Supreme Court handed down its landmark ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which set new guidelines on determining Second Amendment cases based on historical precedent.
The new statute lists dozens of firearms described generically as “assault long guns” and 19 handguns described as “assault pistols,” plus so-called “copycat” firearms. Violators can be charged with a Class D felony, punishable by up to eight years in prison.
WCAU noted Delaware is one of nine states, plus the District of Columbia, which ban so-called “assault weapons,” and one of 14 states, plus the District, with limits on magazine capacity.
