US Supreme Court turns down challenge to assault weapons ban in 2 states
TEHRAN (Basirat)- The US Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to laws in two states that restrict ownership of semi-automatic firearms.
On Monday, justices rejected an appeal of an October decision by the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld laws in Connecticut and New York that prohibit civilians from owning certain semi-automatic rifles and high-capacity magazines.
The laws bar access to the same gun used by Omar Mateen, the man who killed 49 people and wounded 53 others in a terrorist attack on an Orlando nightclub last week.
A federal ban enacted in 1994 had similar prohibitions on certain semi-automatic firearms and magazines that were defined as high-capacity, but that law expired in 2004
The bans in Connecticut and New York were enacted in response to the Sandy Hook massacre, where a shooter with a semi-automatic rifle killed 20 children and six teachers at an elementary school in 2012.
Five other states and Washington, DC also have bans on semi-automatic rifles.
