By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear arguments in two cases challenging gun control laws in Delaware and Maryland, but left alive hopes that two other challenges to gun laws, one in Maryland and the other in Rhode Island.
The case still on the table in Maryland is known as Snope v. Brown. It challenges the state’s ban on so-called “assault weapons.” SAF is joined by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and the Firearms Policy Coalition.
According to Investing.com, the Rhode Island case challenges that state’s ban on so-called “large-capacity magazines.”
The Snope case has been around for a few years, and was initially granted certiorari by the High Court in June 2022 just long enough to have the Court of Appeals ruling in support of the Maryland law vacated and remanded back for further action in accordance with the new Second Amendment litigation guidelines established by the Bruen ruling just a week before.
The issue of whether modern semiautomatic rifles are protected by the Second Amendment has been waiting for some resolution for several years. Many in the firearms community feel the time has come for the Supreme Court to take up a case and settle the question, since several states have banned the sale, purchase, import and manufacture of such firearms while most states have not. Some estimates place the number of such guns in private ownership at more than 22 million, which translates to “common use” and under language in the 2008 Heller ruling the question of constitutional protection has, say gun rights activists, already been answered.
The cases denied cert on Monday involved a challenge of Maryland’s requirement that citizens obtain a license before being able to purchase a handgun. This “permit-to-purchase” scheme involves a background check, fingerprinting and a training requirement.
The Delaware case challenged that state’s ban on so-called “assault weapons” and “large-capacity magazines.”
