Maryland – -(Ammoland.com)- In a split decision the en banc Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit decided Kolbe and affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the lawsuit.
A copy of the decision can be found below.
The Court held that so called assault weapons were not even protected by the Second Amendment.
In an alternative ruling, the Court also held that Maryland could ban so called assault weapons under “intermediate scrutiny.” We are, of course, disappointed by the Court’s decision, but an adverse decision was expected after the full Court of 14 judges decided to review the 3 judge panel’s initial favorable decision. The next step would to ask the Supreme Court to review the Fourth Circuit’s decision by filing a petition for certiorari. Such a petition would be due 90 days from today and that time can be extended.
Sound Track : Stephen Kolbe v. Lawrence Hogan, Jr., 813 F.3d 160 (4th Cir. 2016), rehearing en banc granted (March 4, 2016) (No. 14-1945)
Despite the loss, there are some possible aspects to the Court’s decision.
For example, the Court stated that “Nothing in our decision today affects or calls into question the Second Amendment protection of weapons that are not most useful in military service — including, of course, Heller’s handguns.”
The Court further stated that “we conclude that no more than intermediate scrutiny applies here, in part because the FSA leaves citizens free to protect themselves with handguns and plenty of other firearms and ammunition, and thus does not severely burden the core Second Amendment right to use arms for self-defense in the home.”
The decision will thus likely have little direct impact on the HQL litigation.
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Mission Statement: Maryland Shall Issue is an all volunteer, non-partisan effort dedicated to the preservation and advancement of all gunowners’ rights in Maryland, with a primary goal of CCW reform to allow all law-abiding citizens the right to carry a concealed weapon; and to the education of the community to the awareness that ‘shall issue’ laws have, in all cases, resulted in decreased rates of violent crime.
For more information, visit: https://www.vcdl.org/webapps/vcdl/2017leg.html.