The justices upheld the appeals court’s decision, and avoided being involved in the ongoing debate about gun control and gun rights.
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The decision leaves in place a lower court ruling that allows local governments some leeway in regulating the high-powered weapons.
Though the rifles allegedly used by Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik were purchased legally in California, authorities said, they were modified to fire in automatic mode.
“The overwhelming majority of citizens who own and use such rifles do so for lawful purposes, including self-defense and target shooting”, Thomas writes.
The Supreme Court has not taken up a major gun case since 2010.
Among those: the Smith & Wesson M&P 15 semi-automatic weapon that was used in a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado, as well as the Glock Model 19 9mm semi-automatic pistol that was used in the Tucson, Arizona, attack that killed six people and injured 14 others including former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Seven states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws banning assault weapons. The Supreme Court decision preserves a Highland Park gun ban that is similar to those in Maryland, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey and NY, according to the Washington Post.
Friedman took his challenge to the Supreme Court after losing in lower courts.
“There’s no question in my mind about the specter of hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars of litigation costs” that the ordinance could generate, Naftzger said, echoing the comments of several firearms supporters who threatened legal action against the city. A divided three-judge panel for the appeals court upheld the ordinance in an April ruling.
Friedman filed an appeal with the high court in July, which won the backing of the National Rifle Association and the state attorneys from 23 mostly Republican-led states.
The Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge from gun owners over a Chicago suburb’s ban on the sale or possession of semiautomatic weapons.
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ban against a challenge from Arie Friedman and the Illinois State Rifle Association.
They said the term “assault weapons” was anti-gun propaganda and there was nothing unusual about the guns. That represents not just another step forward for commonsense gun safety – it also means that the constitutionality of Connecticut’s law is strengthened as its opponents attempt to undermine it. The Supreme Court’s decision is indeed another step forward for our own gun violence safety laws.
In a rare Oval Office address on Sunday, President Obama called for a ban on gun sales to suspected terrorists No Fly List, a scaled-down request that follows more ambitious but failed efforts to pass gun control legislation following Sandy Hook.
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“We are not going to give up and we’re not going to go away”, Pearson said.
