The U.S. Supreme Court turned aside a case fighting Maryland’s controversial ban on so-called “assault weapons” on Monday. That is hardly the end of the challenge since the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has yet to issue a decision.
The cert request to the high court by the plaintiffs in Bianchi v. Brown came when the Court of Appeals had yet to rule.
The litigation against the state law was brought by the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Second Amendment Foundation and others. The Supreme Court rejection means that Maryland’s “assault weapons” ban stays in effect for the moment.
That decision was far from the only bad news for gun owners to start the new week.
Justices also rejected a petition in Srour v. NYC. Gun rights advocates objected to the city’s stipulation that a person asking for permission to keep a rifle or shotgun in their home exhibit “good moral character.”
However, the high court did not act on a host of legal challenges to the egregious Protect Illinois Communities Act (PICA). Several plaintiffs seek to overturn the state’s “assault weapons” ban as well as other infringements on the right to keep and bear arms.
Second Amendment advocates hold out little hope that the bench will grant cert in the Illinois case.
There was a glimmer of hope when a lower court put the brakes on enforcement of PICA, but that was only a temporary reprieve. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals subsequently chose to ignore the clear direction of the high court in the landmark Bruen decision and strike down the preliminary injunction.
Judges incredibly ruled that, although “assault weapons” are indeed in common use by the public, they are not normally utilized for self-defense. In this instance, they concluded, the Second Amendment does not protect them as “arms.”
And magazines, they determined, are not “arms” at all and do not qualify for protection.
As consideration would need to be taken up in the next term, it is likely the Supreme Court chose to allow the appeals process in the Maryland and New York cases to run its course.
They say the first step to solving a problem is admitting there is one.
Well, the Pew Collectors Anonymous is your way of admitting you have a problem buying guns but you have no intentions of solving that problem, because Pew Collectors Anonymous isn’t about solving a problem; it’s about embracing it.
So be sure to hit the link above and grab your Pew Collectors Anonymous T-Shirts, Hats, and Drinkware.
Click below to purchase.