The plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging Rhode Island's ban on the sale and possession of "large capacity" magazines are asking a judge to strike down the law without a full trial on the merits.
The case, known as Ocean State Tactical v. Nerohna, has already been up to the Supreme Court once, after U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. declined to grant a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the law. The First Circuit upheld that ruling, and the Supreme Court declined to grant cert to the case after repeatedly discussing it in conference, along with a challenge to Maryland's ban on so-called assault weapons that they also turned away.
Now the plaintiffs in Ocean State Tactical have filed a motion for summary judgment in their favor, arguing that "subsequent decisions from the Supreme Court confirm that HB6614 violates the Second Amendment."
The biggest problem the plaintiffs face is that the First Circuit has already ruled in another case out of Massachusetts that bans on "large capacity" magazines are constitutional, and the appellate court views that earlier decision as controlling on the judge in Ocean State Tactical.
While it would be great if McConnell ...