The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that Maryland’s ban on assault rifles does not violate the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms.
In its ruling, Reuters reported the appeals court stated gun owners are not given the right to possess "weapons of war" by the Constitution. The court voted 10-4 to uphold the Firearm Safety Act of 2013, which was passed in response to the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting by a gunman with an assault rifle.
The ruling referred to other mass shootings by gunmen with assault rifles in Aurora, Colorado; San Bernardino, California; and Orlando, Florida, saying that they have become “places whose names have become synonymous with the slaughters that occurred there,” Reuters reported.
The law bans 45 kinds of assault weapons and limits gun magazines to 10 rounds.
“It is absurd to hold that the most popular rifle in America is not a protected ‘arm’ under the Second Amendment,” said NRA spokesperson Jennifer Baker, The Associated Press reported. She added that the majority opinion ignored District of Columbia vs. Heller, a ruling that said that the Second Amendment protects arms that are “in common use at the time for lawful purposes like self-defense.”
Baker also said the NRA is looking at options for appealing the ruling, which reversed an earlier decision by a smaller panel of judges that was sent back to the full panel for review, according to The Baltimore Sun.
Seven states and the District of Columbia ban semi-automatic rifles, and several of those bans have faced court challenges as the state and federal courts attempt to determine whether there can be any reasonable limits on the Second Amendment.
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