The Maryland Attorney General’s Office issued the following press release on Wednesday, March 20:
Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined a coalition of 22 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief defending the federal law that prohibits people who have been convicted of felonies from possessing firearms.
In its brief, filed in U.S. v Prince, the coalition asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit to overturn a lower court ruling that found the law unconstitutional.
“Keeping guns out of the wrong hands is vital to protecting and improving public safety,” said Attorney General Brown. “I am committed to upholding common sense gun safety laws,
including laws preventing people with felony convictions from having access to these deadly weapons.”
The coalition argues that the Second Amendment allows governments to enact sensible and varied regulations to protect the public. In addition to the federal law, nearly every state in the
country has imposed limitations on the possession of firearms by those convicted of felonies, and many have maintained those laws for nearly a century. The attorneys general also explain that
while the current federal restriction establishes a clear and manageable standard, any alternative approach would be burdensome and virtually impossible to manage.
Today, in a separate case titled Bianchi v. Brown, the Office of the Attorney General defended Maryland’s Firearm Safety Act before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. This
2013 law banned assault weapons in Maryland, following the deadly 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Tomorrow (March 21), in the same
court, the Office will defend another law designed to enhance public safety – requiring most people to obtain a license before acquiring a handgun – in Maryland Shall Issue v. Moore. Both
hearings in the Fourth Circuit are rehearings before the full court of cases that have already been heard by three-judge panels. Attorney General Brown will continue to vigorously defend
common-sense gun safety laws to protect Marylanders.