The Volokh Conspiracy
Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent
Second Amendment Roundup: The Court Should Grant Cert in Snope
Clarification needed as Colorado set to ban almost all semiauto rifles.
Four Second Amendment petitions were distributed for the Court's conference on Friday January 10. I just posted on the merits of these cases. A dramatic development has just occurred showing the dire need for the Court to clarify its jurisprudence in this area. The best case to do so is Snope v. Brown, which concerns whether Maryland may ban semiautomatic rifles that are in common use for lawful purposes.
Here's the urgency. Yet another state, Colorado, is about to ban virtually all semiautomatic rifles, large numbers of semiautomatic pistols, and even a number of semiautomatic shotguns. The previous state bans encompass America's most widely-held rifles such as the AR-15, but they don't apply to semiautomatic rifles that do not have pistol grips or other cosmetic features. The Colorado bill will ban ALL semiautomatic rifles that use a detachable magazine, which means almost all semiautomatic rifles. No other state goes that far.
The bill, SB 3, defines a "specified semiautomatic firearm" to include a "semiautomatic rifle with a detachable magazine." That will include a Browning BAR Semi-Auto rifle, a traditional hunting rifle that comes with a magazine holding only three rounds. The only exemption is for rifles that use .22 rimfire rounds, which cannot be used for large game.
SB 3 will also ban a "gas-operated semiautomatic handgun with a detachable magazine," which would include countless pistols such as the S&W M&P 5.7. It doesn't matter that the Supreme Court in Heller held that handguns as a class are protected by the Second Amendment.
The bill will also ban a "semiautomatic shotgun with a detachable magazine," such as a Remington 870 DM which comes with a six-round magazine. While most semiauto shotguns use a tubular magazine, detachable magazines are safer as they allow unloading without chambering each round.
SB 3 will make it a crime to transfer, sell, or purchase a specified semiautomatic firearm. A first offense will render one liable for a $250,000 fine. In addition to imprisonment, conviction for a second offense will leave the person ineligible to possess any firearm.
According to the Colorado Sun, SB 3 has 18 Senate cosponsors, and only 18 votes are needed for passage. The Sun notes that it will "almost certainly be approved by the House, where it has 24 original cosponsors." In support of the bill, Everytown mischaracterizes the subject firearms as "high-powered, military style firearms."
Some states and some circuit courts are pushing the envelope against the Supreme Court's Second Amendment rulings. It's time for the Court, as Chief Justice Marshall famously put it, "to say what the law is."
