Posted May 12, 2016 12:38 pm by Comments

By Jenn Jacques

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A Federal Appeals Court debated the legality of Maryland’s “Assault” Weapons Ban for over an hour Wednesday.

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.

Judges had tough questions for both sides as they weighed how far the Maryland legislature could go to limit individual rights to gun ownership.

Gun rights supporters claim the ban violates the Second Amendment because it applies to firearms that many Maryland residents keep in their homes. The state argues that lawmakers had authority to prohibit the weapons because they are rarely used for self-defense and are disproportionately used in mass shootings and killings of police officers.

The appeals court typically takes several weeks to issue a ruling.

Maryland lawmakers passed the sweeping Firearms Safety Act after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Connecticut. Gun rights advocates went along with most of the law but challenged the provision banning 45 assault weapons and the 10-round limit on gun magazines.

U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake upheld the ban, but a divided three-judge panel of the 4th …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms

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