The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of appeals has ruled that Maryland’s assault weapons ban is constitutional. The 10-4 ruling is a win for gun control advocates who had sought to keep the restrictions in force.
 
“Put simply, we have no power to extend Second Amendment protections to weapons of war,” Judge Robert King wrote for the court according to NBC News.
 
Judge William Traxler blasted the ruling in a dissent. “For a law-abiding citizen who, for whatever reason, chooses to protect his home with a semi-automatic rifle instead of a semi-automatic handgun, Maryland’s law clearly imposes a significant burden on the exercise of the right to arm oneself at home, and it should at least be subject to strict scrutiny review before it is allowed to stand,” Traxler wrote.
 
For its part, the National Rifle Association was flabbergasted that the court upheld bans and restrictions on the AR-15. The AR-15 is the most popular rifle in nation with 5 to 10 million in circulation according to the NRA.
 
Maryland bans 45 types of weapons and restricts magazines to just a 10 round capacity. The law was enacted after the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in 2012.
 
The very purpose of the 2nd Amendment was to allow private citizens to own weapons for militia use. By definition, those weapons are weapons of war. Those are the weapons that our Founding Fathers wanted Americans to own. 

AR-15s are popular with gun owners because you do so much with them. They be chambered in numerous calibers. Anyone with a basic knowledge of machine tools can manufacture a receiver. They can be easily assembled at home.

In many ways, they resemble the colonial era muskets. Many of them were used for hunting and were built from parts of old guns.

 
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has ignored the very intent of the Constitution in this case. Their decision needs to overturned on that basis.