In the headlong rush of anti-2A opportunism in the aftermath of the horrific Newtown shooting, three states stood head and shoulders above their hoplophobic peers: Connecticut (of course), New York (i.e., the SAFE Act) and Maryland, which enacted an “assault weapons” ban. Never mind that the defunct federal version had been universally judged an utter failure. Details like that really don’t matter when events make ramming through new restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms less of a heavy lift. When the middle-of-the-night law was challenged in court, a “three-judge panel cast doubt on the constitutionality of the law that also prohibits magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition.” You know, Heller and all. Only now . . .
As the Washington Post reports,
The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit agreed to rehear the case after a three-judge panel cast doubt on the constitutionality of the law that also prohibits magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. …
If the full court in Richmond reverses, gun rights advocates say it would upend past practice by other lower court judges.
“Such a decision would further erode the rights of law-abiding citizens to own protected firearms to the point where they would be equated with criminals, domestic violence misdemeanants, and illegal drug users,” according to those challenging the law, including the Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Association, the Maryland Licensed Firearms Dealers Association and Maryland business owner Stephen Kolbe.
So some of the most commonly owned civilian weapons are now back in play in the laughably named Free State. Watch this space.