A 2-1 ruling Thursday by the federal 4th Circuit Court of Appeals struck a blow to a Maryland law that placed a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. It was former Gov. Martin O'Malley who in 2013 hastily enacted the ban shortly after the Newtown school massacre.
The judges concluded that these types of weapons "are in common use by law-abiding citizens" and cannot be considered "unusual" like hand grenades or fully-automatic machine guns. As such, semi-automatic weapons don't fall under any Second Amendment exceptions.
The National Rifle Association is pleased with the ruling, calling it "an important victory for the Second Amendment" and praised the judges for applying "the highest level of judicial scrutiny… when governments try to restrict our 2A freedoms."
Maryland's Attorney General Brian E. Frosh doesn't feel the same and says the decision "conflicts sharply with rulings of other federal appellate courts." His plan is to appeal all the way up to the Supreme Court.
For now, the ban remains in place pending a decision by the District Court, reports The Baltimore Sun.
