Maryland has some of the toughest gun laws in the country, including a ban on assault weapons.
But the Maryland law, as well as similar legislation passed in Connecticut in the wake of the Newtown shootings, has faced legal challenges. Various gun control groups have appealed the two states’ bans on assault weapons, arguing that they reflect an unconstitutional infringement on individual liberty.
This week, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of the Connecticut law, which gun control advocates in Maryland are counting as a tentative victory. That’s because, by declining to hear the case, the Supreme Court has effectively given Connecticut’s ban on assault weapons its tacit approval–which means that Maryland’s will likely be viewed the same way.
According to polls, a substantial majority of Marylanders favors the law.
