Well no surprise, Brian Frosh, as Maryland Attorney General, has opposed our Petition for Certiorari (definition) in Kolbe. We are shocked (not really). You can find that opposition here.
To summarize, the State argues that the Supreme Court should not hear the case because, supposedly, there is no conflict in the circuits on the constitutionality of a ban on modern rifles and standard capacity magazines. Of course, the opposition largely ignores the conflicts in reasoning and approach pointed out in the petition, wrongly asserting, for example, that these doctrinal and analytical differences are "inconsequential" and "conjectural." The opposition also argues in one page that, in any event, the Fourth Circuit was correct in holding that the ban does not violate the Second Amendment as interpreted in Heller. That treatment utterly fails to come to grips with our arguments on this point. We filed a response to the State's opposition. The Supreme Court denied certiorari on November 27. We simply do not know why certiorari was denied, but that denial is not a decision on the merits or Supreme Court precedent on the issues presented. So the issue remains open at the Supreme Court level.
Mark Pennak, MSI President
