Maryland Attorney General Tries To Delay Potential Supreme Court Hearing On ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown asked the Supreme Court Wednesday to grant his office additional time to craft a response to a challenge targeting the state’s decade-old “assault weapons” ban.

Brown asked the Supreme Court Wednesday to grant a one-month extension for the state to file a response to the petition for certiorari filed by the plaintiffs in Bianchi v. Brown, citing being busy with “other assigned work,” according to court documents. A ruling from the court on the case could decide if “assault weapons” bans are constitutional.

The ban passed in 2013 after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting killed 20 children and six adults. The rifles covered by the ban include AK-pattern rifles, large anti-material rifles such as the Barrett .50 caliber M82 rifle and the ubiquitous AR-15 platform.

“Maryland has asked for another extension to respond to the cert petition in our lawsuit challenging Maryland’s ‘assault weapon ban.’ We are opposing the state’s request,” plaintiff and gun rights group Firearms Policy Coalition said on X Wednesday. “Maryland says it needs more time to respond to our cert petition (filed in August) because it has to respond to a different cert petition that was filed two weeks ago (which it hasn’t requested an extension for).”

The lawsuit was initially filed in 2020 with plaintiffs including the Second Amendment Foundation and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms as well as the FPC,