“FAKE” NEWS INFECTS THE 4TH CIRCUIT ON ASSAULT WEAPONS RULING

Last week the 4^th Circuit Court of Appeals* upheld Maryland’s ban on “assault weapons” in an absurd ruling that deemed if they look like weapons of war, they should be treated in the same manner.  Turning reason on its head, in Kolbe v. Hogan the court stated the difference between the AR 15 – the single most popular platform (commonly known as Modern Sporting Rifles -MRSs) and authentic military guns such as the M-16 are only “slight.”

We must ask whether the courts are engaging in their own version of “fake news” – especially since the ruling fully ignores very obvious differences between an M-16 and an AR-15.  The M-16 is fully automatic, which means the gun shoots continually when the trigger is pulled.  The AR-15 does not, as it takes repeated trigger pulls to discharge a bullet.  This is an enormous distinction the court deliberately chose to “overlook”; it’s kind of like comparing an F-15 Fighting Eagle to a single-engine Cessna.

The Court continued its judicial drivel by describing sporting and hunting rifles as “exceptionally lethal weapons of war.”  They even went so far to state that “military-style” guns are disproportionately used in U.S. mass shootings and thus fall outside the 2^nd Amendment because they are best suited for military use rather than private citizens.  Per data compiled by Breitbart, however, handguns are more often the weapon of choice in such shootings rather than so-called assault weapons.

This decision has been called everything from atrocious, and taking “pot-shots” at Heller to “killing the 2^nd Amendment.”  In describing the far-reaching importance of the Kolbe decision, “The Arbalest Quarrel” says:

Where do we begin on our analysis of the atrocious decision of the Fourth Circuit in Kolbe. The import of this awful decision rests, first, upon the majority’s disregard for the precedential holdings of Heller and McDonald. The majority shreds the legal principle of stare decisis, which requires courts to uphold prior decisions lest the foundation of our system of case law fall apart. The import of this absurd decision rests, second, on the Court’s clear contempt for the explicit fundamental right of the people to keep and bear arms, codified in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. And, this atrocious decision rests, third, on the majority’s clear rebuke of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Scalia’s legacy…

GOC agrees; to read a full analysis on the decision, click here.

The Arbalest Quarrel provides analysis on recently passed State and Federal firearms legislation and gun control laws, detailing them in a “in a careful, methodical, and detailed manner…” while pointing to “ambiguities, vagueness, and inconsistencies in the language of the laws.”  They also explain the myths of “assault weapons” and “how antigun politicians and major news and media organizations perpetrate and perpetuate lies about firearms in a concerted effort to weaken our Second Amendment.”

*[The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is one of twelve regional appellate courts within the federal judicial system. The court hears appeals from the nine federal district courts in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina and from federal administrative agencies.]