PHOENIX – Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey are co-leading a coalition of 25 states to protect Americans’ right to bear arms, asking the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to hear the case Bianchi v. Frosh, where the justices should overturn the Fourth Circuit’s approval of a Maryland firearms ban.
“Americans do not require approval from a local jurisdiction to exercise their constitutional rights,” said Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich. “We must vigorously oppose this type of misguided overreach at all levels of government.”
The coalition is urging SCOTUS to strike down a 2013 Maryland law that restricts what firearms law-abiding citizens may possess to protect themselves, thereby compromising the Second Amendment rights of millions of citizens. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld this ban in violation of SCOTUS precedent by creating its own standard that allows the prohibition of firearms if a court thinks the weapon is useful in military service.
Americans bearing these firearms benefit public safety, counterbalance the threat of illegal gun violence, and help make our streets safer. SCOTUS should not allow a state to invade its own citizens’ constitutional rights. If left untouched, Maryland’s unconstitutional ban on firearms and the Fourth Circuit’s erroneous standard threaten the constitutional rights of all Americans. Arizona and forty-two other states allow the commonly-used firearms that Maryland has banned outright.
Joining Arizona and West Virginia are the attorneys general from: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming.
Copy of amicus brief here.