CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich are leading a group of 25 states in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to defend the rights of gun owners in West Virginia and beyond.
The coalition filed a brief January 26 asking the Supreme Court to hear arguments against and ultimately strike down a Maryland gun ban. It argues the ban infringes on the rights of legal gun owners as it prohibits the sale, transfer and possession of certain semiautomatic sporting rifles.
“Banning certain types of firearms goes against Supreme Court precedent and steps on the Second Amendment,” Morrisey said in a press release. “Law abiding gun owners routinely use these firearms for self-defense or sporting. Such an unconstitutional act cannot stand.”
The coalition’s brief takes issue with a Maryland law that was upheld by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That statute generally prohibits the possession, sale, transfer or receipt of semi-automatic weapons used for hunting such as the AR-15.
The 4th Circuit’s decision, if not overruled by the Supreme Court, would set case law governing any similar laws in West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
West Virginia and its partners argue the lower court ruling inappropriately limited the scope of the Second Amendment by taking an earlier Supreme Court ruling out of context.
The coalition further argues that weapons subject to the Maryland ban are protected under existing case law related to weapons lawfully carried in common use. The group claims that striking down such a ban would safeguard against any federal ban passed by Congress.
West Virginia and Arizona filed the friend of the court brief with Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.