The Fourth Circuit's ridiculous ruling on Maryland's assault weapon ban is...interesting.

It's not so much a case of legal reasoning as legal rationalizing. While supposedly adhering to Bruen, the judges were able to completely ignore what Bruen said, and issue a ruling with absolutely no bearing on the history, text, and tradition of the Second Amendment. 

And that's without the games some of the judges allegedly played to make the ruling happen.

But it's also not the only assault weapon ban that's been upheld. Illinois, for example, has one that the appellate court has said was constitutional, which means someone is likely to end up before the Supreme Court.

And Maryland's ruling such that it might well be first.

Todd Vandermyde, a gun rights advocate and consultant for plaintiffs in one of Illinois’ challenges against the Land of Lincoln’s gun and magazine ban, said Maryland’s ruling is so bad it helps Second Amendment advocates heading to the Supreme Court.

“It just so flies in the face of the common use test, modern guns are protected, all the things that have been reiterated through [previous Supreme Court precedent], I think this thing is just so bad that they’re going to take it,” Vandermyde told The Center Square.

Earlier this year, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas declined taking up cases out of Illinois challenging the state’s gun and magazine ban. He said the cases still were in preliminary stages in lower federal courts, not on final orders.

“Petitioners sought a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of the law, arguing that the law violates their Second Amendment right to ‘keep and bear Arms.’” Thomas wrote in July. “This Court is rightly wary of taking cases in an interlocutory posture. But, I hope we will consider the important issues presented by these petitions after the cases reach final judgment.”

The consolidated cases challenging Illinois’ gun ban have a bench trial set for Sept. 16 in the Southern District of Illinois federal court. That would still have to go through the appeals court before going to the Supreme Court.

Maryland’s gun ban decision was on final judgment. Vandermyde said that’s just what Thomas was looking for.

“He said they wanted a case that was done on the merits with a record, here they’ve got a record,” Vandermyde said.

So Illinois's ban could have been first, but the district court trial on the ban won't take place until September, and appeals could stretch out for well more than a year. While many weren't thrilled with the delays, in cases like this, it's important that all the forms are followed. Otherwise, it'll spark even more controversy than it would otherwise.

Either way and despite Rahimi, I'd be hard-pressed not to see whichever case ends up on the justices' desk eventually lead to assault weapon bans being overturned in general. It won't stop states from trying to restrict things as much as possible within whatever parameters are left to them--look at what happened after Bruen for example--but they won't be able to push weapon category bans down people's throats.

That means whichever case lands there first, assuming the justices agree to hear the case in the first place, will mark the beginning of the end for assault weapon bans as we currently understand them.

And yes, that's a very good thing.

Maryland's however, was particularly egregious because of just how the judges rationalized their ruling, and so I'm actually glad that it's likely to be first. There's more at stake now than just whether or not we can own AR-15s. The Fourth Circuit's ruling basically opens the door for just about anything else if it's not slapped down and slapped down hard.

So here's hoping it happens soon.