BERLIN, Md. - After Thursday's ruling that Maryland's Firearm Safety Act of 2013 needs to be reconsidered, many gun owners on Maryland's Eastern Shore saw it as a step in the right direction.
Bob Arthur is the owner of Arthur's Shooters Supply in Berlin. Arthur said prior to the law taking effect in October of 2013, he saw a huge boost in sales. However, once the law became official, things got a little rough for him.
"We dropped off 75% in 2014 and a lot of gun shops in Maryland closed due to a decrease in the volume of business. It was a tough time," Arthur told WBOC on Friday.
Arthur said it was a difficult year because of new law banned the sale of 45 types of assault weapons and high capacity magazines in Maryland. It is a law that Arthur believes should not be on the books.
"The law, the way it was written, was unconstitutional. It banned a certain number of guns just by the way they look and not by the way they function or anything else," Arthur said. "All firearms are the same, and they are protected by the 2nd Amendment."
Well Arthur may get his wish, in time. Thursday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the law to the lower, U.S. District Court for Maryland, for further review. However, that does not mean the law will definitely be repealed. In fact, Maryland Attorney General, Brian Frosh, has vowed to uphold the law. Frosh said in a statement, "I remain fully committed to defending Maryland's law...so that we can continue to protect public safety and reduce the risk of deadly gun violence."
Back in Berlin at Arthur's Shooters Supply, Bob Arthur was short and sweet about his thoughts on the future of the law.
"It should be repealed. It's a bad law."
There could be a long legal process before any final decision is made on the law. Attorney General Frosh also added that he will take the order to reconsider the law to the U.S. Supreme Court if he has too.
