High court returns Md. assault weapons ban challenge to 4th circuit, cites Bruen

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday sent a constitutional challenge to Maryland’s ban on semiautomatic assault-style weapons back to a lower court with instructions that it apply the justices’ broad interpretation of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms that they issued last week. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had upheld the ban, saying it promotes Maryland’s goal of protecting public safety without encroaching on what the Supreme Court has held to be the constitutional right of law-abiding citizens to possess handguns for self-defense.