{"id":64741,"date":"2016-10-06T11:19:26","date_gmt":"2016-10-06T15:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/blog\/?p=64741"},"modified":"2016-10-06T11:19:26","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T08:04:14","slug":"federal-judge-strikes-assault-weapons-ban-northern-mariana-islands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/federal-judge-strikes-assault-weapons-ban-northern-mariana-islands\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Judge Strikes Down Assault Weapons Ban, Says Prohibited Features Actually Make Guns Safer to Use"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"AR-15<\/a>

A line of black rifles at the ATF’s National Tracing Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia, December 15, 2015. (Photo: Reuters\/Jonathan Ernst<\/em>)<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s a good day for gun owners in the U.S.-controlled Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).<\/p>\n

A federal court ruled this week that CNMI\u2019s \u201cassault weapons\u201d ban (AWB) violates the Second Amendment and actually makes semi-automatic rifles more difficult to use. The court also ruled that CNMI\u2019s ban on rifles in calibers above .223, its ban on transporting operable firearms, and its $1,000 excise tax on handguns also violate the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe individual right to armed self-defense in case of confrontation… cannot be regulated into oblivion,\u201d said Ramona Manglona, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.<\/p>\n

The court\u2019s decision sets an important precedent opposing those decisions that have upheld AWBs in states like California, Connecticut, and New York. If the Supreme Court ever decides to hear a challenge to these bans, Judge Manglona\u2019s decision might play a role.<\/p>\n

The decision<\/a> itself is worth a read. One of the most interesting sections is that which describes the \u201cassault rifle\u201d ban. Manglona takes a creative line of reasoning, agreeing with ban proponents that pistol grips, folding stocks, etc., make the rifle easier to handle. But then she flips the anti-gun logic on its head by pointing out that ease of use is a benefit<\/em> to public safety because the vast majority of gun owners use these rifles for legal purposes:<\/p>\n