Maryland gun control advocates laud SCOTUS decision
(WBALTV) BALTIMORE —Gun control advocates in Maryland are cheering a decision Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court dealing with assault weapons.
The Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to Connecticut’s assault weapons ban, again deciding to leave such laws up to individual states. Connecticut’s ban is similar to the law passed in Maryland in 2013 that bans the sale of many assault-type weapons and high-capacity magazines.
Maryland law is currently under challenge by a gun rights group before the federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, but gun control advocates see that case going their way just as the Supreme Court has allowed Connecticut’s law to stand.
“I’m hoping that today’s court decision, and what I think is going to happen in the Fourth Circuit, will send a message this is constitutional. It does not infringe on individual right to bear arms to ban assault weapons and high-capacity gun magazines. These are weapons of war,” said Vinnie DeMarco, with Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence.
Maryland’s 2013 law also requires fingerprint licensing for gun buyers, making it one of the toughest laws in the country.
A new poll released Monday shows public support. The poll done for the gun control lobby finds in Maryland’s 6th Congressional District, which includes rural western Maryland, 63 percent of poll respondents support the gun licensing law.
Even in the three rural western-most counties, gun licensing gets majority support, which is also a state law. There is no similar federal law.
The state’s attorney general said he too is pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision to not hear the challenge to Connecticut’s assault weapon ban.