Gun rights groups ask Supreme Court to rule on sweeping Maryland firearm ban lower bench upheld

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Two major Second Amendment groups called on the Supreme Court to hear a case challenging Maryland’s stringent "Assault Weapons Ban of 2013," after a lower court ruled the ban constitutional.

The Firearms Policy Coalition filed a petition to the high bench asking them to hear Snope v. Brown – alternatively Bianchi v. Frosh – which the Richmond, Va.-based Fourth Circuit upheld in a 10-5 decision earlier this month.

That decision, written by Reagan-appointed Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, said the Old Line State’s ban on certain semi-automatic rifles and pistols "fits comfortably within our nation’s tradition of firearms regulation." Two residents of Baltimore County, Md., and one from Anne Arundel County first filed suit against Maryland in 2021.

The California-based Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) and Washington State-based Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) filed petitions for certiorari, asking the Supreme Court to make a superseding ruling on the Fourth Circuit’s decision.

SAF founder Alan Gottlieb said the appeals bench is trying to flip the landmark "Heller" decision nixing the District of Columbia’s gun ban "on its head."

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Semiautomatic rifles now banned for sale in the state of Illinois are displayed at Freddie Bear Sports on Jan. 11, 2023, in Tinley Park, Ill.  (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

"They are essentially arguing the arms protected by the Second Amendment are limited only to certain state-approved firearms, which would make it no right at all, but a government-regulated privilege," Gottlieb said in a statement.

"This is the third time we have petitioned the high court in this case," Gottlieb added. 

Meanwhile, in a separate release, FPC President Brandon Combs argued the case is an "ideal vehicle for the Supreme Court to resolve exceptionally important issues."

Combs said AR-15s and other similar arms prohibited in Maryland are otherwise very commonly owned.

"There is no legitimate basis for the Fourth Circuit to have concluded that the most widely owned semiautomatic rifles in the United States are not arms protected by the Second Amendment," he said. 

"The Court must provide more guidance on which weapons the Second Amendment covers and they should do so in this case. This immoral and abusive gun control regime must end here." Proponents also cited the recent Bruen decision overturning New York's open-carry ban.

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In his majority decision, Wilkinson argued the AR-15 and Barrett .50 cal and "gangster-style" guns are not protected by the Constitution due to their "excessively dangerous" nature, according to Maryland Matters.

He then listed mass shootings in Blacksburg, Va., Las Vegas, Nev., Parkland, Fla., Thousand Oaks, Calif., and about a dozen other cities.

Meanwhile, writing in dissent, Trump-appointed Judge Julius Richardson countered that the "Second Amendment is not a second-class right subject to the whimsical discretion of federal judges."

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, a Democrat, is the named defendant in the suit – which formerly named his Democratic predecessor Brian Frosh. Brown’s office declined to comment on the filings.

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Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown is seen during his tenure as lieutenant governor. (Getty)

Fox News Digital also reached out to Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who spearheaded the ban while serving in the state Senate at the time.

The Takoma Park lawmaker was listed as the first sponsor of the legislation, which also named Frosh – then a state senator from Potomac – as one of its co-sponsors.

The law’s text orders that "certain firearms" be designated as "assault weapons" and prohibits sale, transfer or purchase of such weaponry. It also called upon an Annapolis board to create a roster of prohibited weapons.

Fox News Digital also reached out to Maryland Gov. Wes Moore for comment but did not hear back by press time.