The U.S. Supreme Court turned down two important cases recently involving the Second Amendment. The justices turned down an appeal that questioned Delaware’s ban on assault-style rifles and large-capacity magazines, as well as turned away a case about Maryland’s handgun licensing requirements
Supreme Court turned down two important cases recently involving the Second Amendment
The U.S. Supreme Court turned down two important cases recently involving the Second Amendment. The justices turned down an appeal that questioned Delaware’s ban on assault-style rifles and large-capacity magazines, as well as turned away a case about Maryland’s handgun licensing requirements.
In this way, the Court avoided dealing with two important cases involving gun rights. A group of gun owners and gun rights groups tried to appeal to the justices, but they turned them down. They wanted to stop Delaware’s ban on “assault weapons” and magazines that can hold more than 17 rounds. The ruling was after a lower court decided not to issue a preliminary injunction.
These kinds of guns have been used in several mass shootings in the U.S., but FBI crime statistics indicate that handguns are used in the vast majority of gun-related murders.
The gun rights group Maryland Shall Issue and other plaintiffs also appealed, but the justices did not hear it. They were contesting a lower court’s ruling that the state’s licensing law aligned with the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear weapons.
The justices chose not to hear these two cases, but they also left unaddressed two other appeals against Maryland’s ban on assault weapons and one in Rhode Island against the state’s ban on large-capacity magazines.
With a 6-3 conservative majority, the Supreme Court has always taken an “originalist” view of gun rights in major decisions going back to 2008.
The AR 15 and AK 47 are two examples of semiautomatic “assault” rifles that are
The AR-15 and AK-47 are two examples of semiautomatic “assault” rifles that are illegal in Delaware because of gun safety laws that were passed in 2022. However, people who owned these weapons before the laws were passed can keep them as long as they meet certain requirements. The law also prohibits large-capacity magazines, rendering devices owned prior to its enactment ineffective.
People from the state who want to buy illegal guns or magazines, a gun dealer, the Firearms Policy Coalition, and the Second Amendment Foundation are challenging the law.
They said the lower courts were mistaken when they said that “deprivation of Second Amendment rights necessarily constitutes an irreparable injury.” In 2023, the plaintiffs asked a federal judge for an injunction, but the judge said no. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Philadelphia, upheld that decision in 2024.
The 3rd Circuit questioned the plaintiffs’ assertion that an injunction is essential in this case. “Preliminary injunctions are not automatic,” the 3rd Circuit said.
“Instead, custom and history have long saved them for very special occasions.” “This is not a strange case,” the court said.
Maryland’s law from 2013 says that most people must get a qualification license before they
Maryland’s law from 2013 says that most people must get a qualification license before they can buy a handgun. Those who want to apply must get their fingerprints taken, go through training, and have their backgrounds checked.
The challengers say the process is too hard to follow and that the need to finish it “can take a month or longer” makes people less likely to use their Second Amendment rights. Maryland, on the other hand, says that the requirements for fingerprinting and safety courses “significantly improve public safety.” The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the state.
Months ago, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case about whether a 2022 federal regulation put forward by the Biden administration to target “ghost guns” (guns that can’t be tracked) that are being used in more and more crimes was legal. The court should make a decision by the end of June.
On March 4, the justices heard arguments in another gun case. U.S. gun companies Smith & Wesson and Interstate Arms are attempting to overturn a lawsuit that Mexico filed in this case. The lawsuit says that they helped bring guns into the country illegally for drug cartels in Mexico.
As of last year, the Supreme Court said that the federal ban on “bump stock” devices, which make semiautomatic weapons fire more quickly than machine guns, was illegal. Reuters also said that the justices have overturned major gun laws in important cases in 2008, 2010, and 2022.
