The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Tuesday that Maryland’s assault weapons ban is constitutional. A lower court ruling last year found that Maryland’s Firearm Safety Act [text, PDF], violated the Second Amendment [text]. Based on the US Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller [opinion], the appeals court found that assault weapons are not protected by the Second Amendment. The court also stated that, “some of today’s weapons lack constitutional protected precisely because they ‘are most useful in military service.” The court also found that the ban does not violate the Fourteenth Amendment [text].

Gun control remains a divisive issue [JURIST op-ed], according to Allen Rostron [official profile] of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law [official website]. Read more.