WASHINGTON (August 21, 2024) – Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) has filed a petition with the United States Supreme Court in Snope v. Brown (formerly Bianchi v. Frosh), its lawsuit challenging Maryland’s ban on so-called “assault weapons,” requesting review of the Fourth Circuit’s highly flawed en banc (full court) decision. The petition can be viewed at AWBcase.com.

“As promised, we have petitioned the Supreme Court to review the Fourth Circuit’s terrible decision without delay. As a petition from a final judgment with the best Second Amendment litigators in the world at the helm, this case is an ideal vehicle for the Supreme Court to resolve exceptionally important issues. Through this case, the Court can and should make explicit how lower courts should address unconstitutional bans on so-called ‘assault weapons’ and similar laws,” explained FPC President Brandon Combs.

“For years, lower courts have contorted the Supreme Court’s precedents and wrongly held that the Second Amendment does not protect semiautomatic firearms. But these weapons are common numerically, categorically, and jurisdictionally, popular for a wide range of lawful purposes from self-defense to sport,” Combs went on. “There is no legitimate basis for the Fourth Circuit to have concluded that the most widely owned semiautomatic rifles in the United States are not ‘Arms’ protected by the Second Amendment. The Court must provide more guidance on which weapons the Second Amendment covers and they should do so in this case. This immoral and abusive gun control regime must end here.” 

“Under Bruen and Heller, this case should have been very straightforward. Indeed, the dissent’s resolution of the case could be summarized in two sentences: Petitioners ‘seek to own weapons that are indisputably “Arms” within the plain text of the Second Amendment’,” the Second Amendment advocates argued in the petition. But, “Maryland’s ban cannot pass constitutional muster as it prohibits the possession of arms commonly possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes.”

“The popularity of the AR-15 is among the most well-evidenced, and frequently discussed, facts about firearms in the country. There are, by almost all estimates, considerably more modern semiautomatic rifles like the AR-15 in the United States than there are Ford F-150s, America’s most popular automobile. And that is in spite of the laws, like Maryland’s here, that prohibit tens of millions of Americans from some of our most populous states from acquiring them,” the petition explained.

The Snope case is part of FPC’s high-impact strategic litigation program, FPC Law, aimed at eliminating immoral laws and creating a world of maximal liberty. FPC is joined in the litigation by FPC members as well as the Second Amendment Foundation and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

Firearms Policy Coalition (firearmspolicy.org), a 501(c)4 nonprofit membership organization, exists to create a world of maximal human liberty, defend constitutional rights, advance individual liberty, and restore freedom. We work to achieve our strategic objectives through litigation, research, scholarly publications, amicus briefing, legislative and regulatory action, grassroots activism, education, outreach, and other programs. Our FPC Law program (FPCLaw.org) is the nation’s preeminent legal action initiative focused on restoring the right to keep and bear arms throughout the United States. Individuals who want to support FPC’s work to eliminate unconstitutional laws can join the FPC Grassroots Army at JoinFPC.org or make a donation at firearmspolicy.org/donate. For more on FPC’s lawsuits and other pro-Second Amendment initiatives, visit FPCLegal.org and follow FPC on Instagram, X (Twitter), Facebook, and YouTube.