The case of Snope v. Brown has been distributed for the Supreme Court's conference for December 13. Previously styled Bianchi v. Brown, the cert petition challenges Maryland's "assault weapon" prohibition which the Fourth Circuit upheld en banc earlier this year.
The Wall St. Journal's Editorial Board just took notice in "AR-15 Rifles and the Constitution" (Dec. 8), observing that the Fourth Circuit "second-guesses people who say they keep or bear an AR-15-style rifle for self-defense." It concludes: "But the Second Amendment isn't an inkblot on the Constitution. It means something. Can that possibly not include a right to own the gun that claims to be America's bestselling rifle?"
Now for a deeper dive. Essential to the majority's decision was a sadly-mistaken view of the quite ordinary ammunition that the banned rifle typically fires.
