Connecticut, New York assault weapons bans upheld by Supreme Court

The gunman in the June 12 attack at an Orlando gay nightclub that killed 49 people, the deadliest mass shooting in modern USA history, used a semiautomatic rifle that would have been banned under the NY and CT laws. Both were passed shortly after the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre in which a gunman opened fire at a CT elementary school, killing 20 school children and six teachers.

The state has had a prohibition very similar to the expired Federal Assault Weapons Ban since 1994.

The Second Circuit, they argued, used wrong test to reach a decision and the death of Justice Antonin Scalia – who authored the Heller decision – may have influenced the Supreme Court from taking up a challenge. “In Connecticut – whether it’s defending our current laws from legal challenge or enacting new measures to help protect our most vulnerable citizens from gun violence – we will continue to work to the best of our abilities to address gun violence”.

The ban, enacted in 2014, applies to semi-automatic guns like the one used in Orlando last week. The high court has not issued a gun rights decision since 2010.

In December, the court declined to hear a challenge to a IL town’s assault weapons ban.

The challenges were denied, as expected, without comment from the court.

This isn’t the first time the gun debate has been turned away from the Supreme Court steps. Two years later, in the case McDonald v. City of Chicago, the court held that the Heller ruling covered individual gun rights in states.

The Connecticut law lists 183 specific prohibited weapons. “It should be a demonstration to states across the nation that common-sense gun laws not only work, they’re Constitutional”, Malloy said. Federal courts have since ruled that statutes like the ban in CT are not in conflict with that decision.

They criticized lower court decisions that have allowed jurisdictions to impose what Thomas called “categorical bans on firearms that millions of Americans commonly own for lawful purposes”.

“While the act burdens the plaintiffs’ Second Amendment rights, it is substantially related to the important governmental interest of public safety and crime control”.

The Connecticut law focuses on the sale or possession of semi-automatic weapons with detachable magazines and other features.