Catherine C. Blake, federal judge on the United States District Court for the District of Maryland ruled on Tuesdat that Maryland’s ban on AR-15s and AK-47s “does not significantly [burden]” the Second Amendment.
Blake’s decision was handed down in Kolbe et al v. Malloy et al, a suit brought by Stephen V. Kolbe and various plaintiffs to challenge Maryland’s Firearm Safety Act of 2013.
On May 17, 2013, The Washington Times revealed that the Firearm Safety Act banned “81 specific guns models,” including the “AK-47 in all forms” and numerous AR-15 variants.
In her August 12 ruling, Blake said the Firearm Safety Act represented “the considered judgement” of Maryland legislature and Governor Martin O’Malley (D) and was an effort “to address a serious risk of harm to law enforcement officers and the public from the great power to injure and kill presented by assault weapons and large capacity magazines.”
Moreover, she explicitly described the Firearm Safety Act as “constitutional,” saying it promotes safety “without significantly burdening” the Second Amendment.
On January 3, 2013 Breitbart News reported FBI crime statistics showing more people are killed with hammers and clubs each year than with any kind of rifle. And in the heinous attack in which Elliot Rodger killed three people with a gun in Santa Barbara and wounded others, Breitbart News reported that the largest ammunition magazine in his possession was 10 rounds.
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