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Gun rights advocates asked the Supreme Court on Monday to decide if bans against certain firearms and magazine capacities infringe on Second Amendment rights and cause irreparable harm.
The Second Amendment Foundation and the Firearms Policy Coalition joined gun owners and DJJAMS LLC, a federally licensed firearm dealer in Delaware, in challenging the state’s ban on a long list of “assault weapons” and any attachable magazines that hold more than 17 rounds.
If convicted of violating the law, a person could spend eight years in prison and face a lifetime loss of the right to own a firearm.
A district court refused to issue a preliminary injunction for the groups in their challenge to block enforcement of the law. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision.
The lower courts reasoned there is no irreparable harm in requiring the plaintiffs to comply with Delaware’s law. (“Irreparable harm” is a qualification that must be shown to obtain a preliminary injunction.)
The district court reasoned that the state is able to show that the bans address “dramatic technological change and unprecedented societal concerns,” according to court documents.
The 3rd Circuit agreed, reasoning that the gun rights advocates did not show irreparable harm enough to secure an injunction.
But the gun rights groups and their allies say that the deprivation of Second Amendment rights itself constitutes irreparable injury.
“This Court has made clear that the infringement of First Amendment rights constitutes a per se irreparable injury that, other things being equal, justifies preliminary injunctive relief,” they argued, reasoning that the same treatment should apply to Second Amendment rights.
“The harm inflicted by an ongoing constitutional violation is irreparable,” the petition reads.
It would take four justices to vote in favor of reviewing the case for oral arguments to be scheduled next term, which begins in October.
Lawyers for the state of Delaware declined to comment.
The case is Gabriel Gray, et al. v. Kathy Jennings, Delaware’s attorney general.
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