US Appeals Court Upholds Gun Laws After Newtown Massacre

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

A federal appeals court has upheld key provisions of New York and Connecticut laws banning possession of semi-automatic assault weapons and large-capacity magazines.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday, finding that the core parts of the laws do not violate the Second Amendment.

The laws were passed after the December 2012 shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut killed 20 first-graders and six educators.

The three-judge panel did, however, agree with a lower court that a seven-round load limit in New York could not be imposed. And it found a Connecticut ban on a non-semi-automatic Remington 7615 unconstitutional.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-appeals-court-upholds-gun-laws-newtown-massacre-34573590

---

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK — Oct 19, 2015, 10:58 AM ET

[Lizzie Poppet]

1. I wonder if the "states rights" crowd will applaud this decision?

Nah...probably not.

In any case, I'm not sure this decision actually matters much in the real world anyway...given that compliance with those restrictions has been estimated at between 5%-10%. Even 100% compliance wouldn't have done much (the weapons affected are used in less than 1% of all gun crimes nationwide); 5% compliance won't alter crime stats in any discernible way, I'm guessing.

[Lurks Often]

2. These two cases were always expected to go to the Supreme Court

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals decision was just a required step to get this before SCOTUS.

If NY & CT had lost, they would have appealed to the Supreme Court, now the plaintiffs for CT & NY will appeal.