{"id":12042,"date":"2017-02-22T17:08:31","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T01:08:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=12042"},"modified":"2017-02-22T17:08:04","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T01:08:04","slug":"appeals-court-upholds-md-ban-on-weapons-of-war-and-other-encouraging-news-for-a-change-bradcast-2222017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=12042","title":{"rendered":"Appeals Court Upholds MD Ban on ‘Weapons of War’ and Other Encouraging News for a Change: ‘BradCast’ 2\/22\/2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

On today’s BradCast<\/i><\/a>, as dark as yesterday’s<\/a> show was, today is somewhat the opposite, with a whole bunch of encouraging news from the courts and<\/i> the people across these United States. [Audio link to show follows below.<\/i>]\n

Attorney and legal journalist Mark Joseph Stern<\/b> of Slate joins us to break down the full 4th Circuit Court of Appeals’ potentially landmark decision<\/a> upholding the state of Maryland’s ban on semi-automatic “weapons of war” and the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling<\/a> today on a race-based death penalty case out of Texas.<\/p>\n

On MD’s ban<\/a> on military-style assault weapons, enacted by the legislature following the 2012 Sandyhook Elementary school massacre, the full court’s majority ruling, including a number of Republican-appointed judges, soundly rejected the opponents argument that, as Stern says, “once enough people own a certain type of gun, the 2nd Amendment magically begins to protect it.” He explains what may happen next with this case as it moves toward the Supreme Court and offers his thoughts on why GOPers and the NRA are suddenly unconcerned with their “states rights” arguments when it comes to guns.<\/p>\n

On the SCOTUS death penalty case<\/a>, granting a repreive, for now, to a Texas man on death row since 1997, Stern explains how the case underscores that “people who are sentenced to death in this country get the worst lawyers sometimes…It’s really quite shocking.” Incredibly enough, Chief Justice John Roberts eloquently agreed — at least in this case.<\/p>\n

And more encouraging news also covered today…<\/p>\n