The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a pair of gun rights cases, with one justice predicting the court would soon consider whether assault weapons bans are constitutional.
The majority did not explain its reasoning in turning down the cases, one from Rhode Island over high-capacity magazines, and a Maryland ban on assault weapons such as the AR-15.
Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch said they would have taken the case challenging Maryland’s ban, and Justice Clarence Thomas wrote separately to say the law likely runs afoul of the Second Amendment.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed with the decision to pass on the case now but indicated that he is skeptical such bans are constitutional and that he expects the court will address the issue “in the next term or two.”
The case comes nearly three years after the Bruen decision, a landmark ruling that expanded Second Amendment rights and spawned challenges to firearm laws around the country. That decision has left parties on both sides of the issue guessing about what the Court’s eventual position on assault weapons and other questions will be.
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