The Supreme Court has decided not to intervene, at least for now, in the ongoing legal battle over Maryland’s ban on so-called assault weapons. By declining to take up the case at this stage, the nation’s highest court has allowed the legal proceedings to continue playing out in lower courts.
The challengers to Maryland’s law had asked the Supreme Court to take up their case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit could rule on whether the ban violates the Second Amendment. However, by rebuffing this request, the Supreme Court has effectively allowed Maryland’s restriction on certain semi-automatic rifles to remain in place temporarily.
The dispute centers around a Maryland law enacted in 2012. Under this law, it is a criminal offense to possess, sell, transfer, or purchase an “assault long gun,” which encompasses 45 specific weapons or their analogues. While a variety of other semi-automatic handguns and rifles are still permitted, according to the Maryland State Police, the ban has drawn significant opposition from pro-gun rights advocates.
In 2020, a group of Maryland residents seeking to purchase the banned semi-automatic rifles, a licensed gun dealer in the state, and several pro-Second Amendment organizations challenged the law, arguing it violates the constitutional right to bear arms. Their challenge has already been heard once by the full 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the law, leading to a dismissal by a federal district court.
However, the case landed back before the Supreme Court after the high court issued a landmark 2022 ruling that expanded the scope of the Second Amendment. In that decision, the justices laid out a new framework requiring gun laws to be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. This “history-and-tradition test” has already led lower courts to invalidate several long-standing gun restrictions.
The Supreme Court’s refusal to intervene at this stage suggests the justices want to allow the 4th Circuit to first apply this new standard to Maryland’s assault weapons ban. The appeals court heard arguments in late March but has yet to issue a ruling. Once it does, the dispute is widely expected to make its way back to the Supreme Court for a final determination.
In urging the Supreme Court to take up the case immediately, the pro-gun rights challengers argued that “a fundamental right is at stake” and that the high court’s intervention is “likely…necessary for that fundamental right to be vindicated.” They contended the Supreme Court should “make clear once and for all that the most popular rifles in the history of the nation are protected by the Second Amendment.”
Maryland officials, however, countered that it was too early for the Supreme Court’s involvement. They argued the state’s ban survives constitutional scrutiny “because it is consistent with our nation’s historical tradition of firearms regulation, which encompasses regulation of novel arms posing heightened dangers to public safety.”
With the Supreme Court declining to short-circuit the appeals process, all eyes now turn to the 4th Circuit’s forthcoming ruling. The court’s application of the history-and-tradition test could have far-reaching implications for the future of gun regulations nationwide.