Supreme Court rejects challenge to Maryland's assault weapons ban

The Supreme Court on Monday turned away a challenge to Maryland's ban on so-called assault weapons, leaving intact a lower court ruling that upheld the law.

In declining to review the decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, the high court skirts for now a fight over whether the Second Amendment allows states to regulate the rifles that have been used in a wave of mass shootings. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch disagreed with the Supreme Court's decision to turn away the case.

The Supreme Court had already turned away the legal battle over Maryland's law last year because a federal appeals court had yet to rule. But the 4th Circuit upheld the measure last August, finding that weapons like the AR-15 could be banned in part because they are outside the scope of the Second Amendment.

But the question of whether AR-15s are protected by the Second Amendment is likely to be soon decided by the Supreme Court. In a separate statement, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that the issue is currently being considered by other federal appeals courts, and rulings from them "should assist this court's ultimate decisionmaking." He predicted appeals to the Supreme Court will be before the court "shortly," and said the justices "should and presumably will address the AR-15 issue soon, in the next term or two."

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