Supreme Court Will Not Hear Challenge to Connecticut Assault Weapon Ban

The United States Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge to the state of Connecticut's assault weapons ban brought by gun rights groups, the court announced Monday.

Laws in Connecticut and New York prohibit semi-automatic weapons like the one used by the gunman in Orlando, Florida, who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub on June 12 before he was shot and killed by police. If the justices had decided to hear the case, they would have heard the arguments in their next term, which begins in October, Reuters reported.

By declining to hear the challenge, the Supreme Court left in place a ruling banning semi-automatic weapons in the state that was passed after the Sandy Hook shooting that left 20 students and six educators dead on Dec. 4, 2012.

A group of Second Amendment rights activists sued the state in federal court, claiming that the law violated their constitutional right to own a gun for self-defense. The plaintiffs had argued that the ban violated the Supreme Court's decision in District of Columbia v. Heller that said individuals have a right to gun ownership for self-protection. Two lower courts had previously thrown out the challenge.

“We fully intend to renew our challenge to Connecticut’s blatantly unconstitutional ban as soon as there are five Justices sitting on the Supreme Court committed to the proper understanding of the Second Amendment,” Scott Wilson, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, said in a statement shortly after the Supreme Court declined to hear the challenge.

The CCDL was the lead organization among the plaintiffs in the case.

In October, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the core provisions of the New York and Connecticut laws prohibiting possession of semi-automatic assault weapons and large-capacity magazines do not violate the Second Amendment.

The court also stated that Heller recognized that, "the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited."

“We appreciate the Supreme Court’s action today. It should be a demonstration to states across the nation that commonsense gun laws not only work, they are Constitutional. We must stand up against mass shootings. We cannot sit idly by and watch tragedy after tragedy, horror after horror. We have the ability to act – the question is whether or not elected officials have the will," Gov. Dannel Malloy said in a statement.

The Supreme Court has previously declined to hear similar cases, including a challenge to a ban on assault weapons enacted in Highland Park, Illinois.

The Washington Post noted that the court's decision was no surprise as it has previously declined to review court decisions in at least 6 states and other cities and states. A separate petition, challenging New York's law was also turned down.

Image via CT State Police report of weapon recovered at Sandy Hook Elementary School

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