After the Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to Maryland’s AR-15 ban, Justice Brett Kavanaugh warned of an imminent constitutional showdown. Gun rights advocates say the Second Amendment is under attack.
Supreme Court Lets AR-15 Ban Stand, Sparks Constitutional Crisis
The Supreme Court has refused to hear a major Second Amendment challenge to Maryland’s 2013 ban on AR-15 rifles, leaving gun rights advocates furious and millions of law-abiding Americans wondering what comes next.
The justices issued a silent denial of certiorari in Snope v. Brown, allowing the Fourth Circuit’s ruling to stand. That ruling upheld Maryland’s prohibition on semiautomatic rifles by declaring them “not constitutionally protected arms.”
Justice Clarence Thomas: “Most Popular Rifle in America Banned”
Justice Clarence Thomas authored a scathing dissent, accusing the Court of treating the Second Amendment like a second-class right.
“I would not wait to decide whether the government can ban the most popular rifle in America,” Thomas wrote. “We have avoided deciding it for a full decade.”
Kavanaugh’s Warning: A Reckoning Is Coming
Justice Brett Kavanaugh didn’t join the dissent but issued a separate opinion. He criticized Maryland’s law as “questionable” and predicted the Court would take up the issue soon.
“This Court should and presumably will address the AR-15 issue soon, in the next Term or two,” Kavanaugh said. He added that more rulings from lower courts may shape the eventual decision.
Kavanaugh emphasized that AR-15s are in common use and likely protected under the Court’s Bruen precedent, which requires modern gun laws to align with the nation’s historical tradition.
Rhode Island Magazine Ban Also Survives
In a separate case, the Court also declined to hear Ocean State Tactical v. Rhode Island, a challenge to the state’s ban on magazines holding more than ten rounds.
Gun owners argued the ban violates both the Second and Fifth Amendments. Rhode Island forced lawful citizens to surrender or permanently alter magazines they owned for years, with no compensation.
Once again, Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch said they would have taken the case. Kavanaugh did not comment.
Legal Chaos and Circuit Conflicts Brewing
At least nine states and D.C. have enacted AR-15 or magazine bans, and appellate courts are now split on how to apply Bruen to these laws. That circuit conflict means the Supreme Court will likely be forced to intervene.
Judge Julius Richardson, in dissent on the Fourth Circuit, said the majority opinion distorted history and ignored clear constitutional protections.
“Rather than considering the amendment’s plain text, the majority sidesteps it altogether and concocts a threshold inquiry divorced from the right’s historic scope,” Richardson wrote.
Gun Owners Demand Clarity
Second Amendment advocates argue this refusal emboldens anti-gun states and leaves citizens vulnerable to confiscation and criminal penalties.
“The right to bear arms doesn’t stop where blue states draw arbitrary lines,” said one legal analyst. “The longer the Court waits, the more damage gets done.”
What Happens Next?
The justices appear to be buying time. But with conflicting rulings mounting in lower courts and millions of Americans affected, a national decision on AR-15 bans is inevitable.
“This is not the end. This is the powder keg before the spark,” said one attorney involved in the case.
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