Supreme Court declines to hear First Amendment challenges in gun display and Confederate statue protest cases

The Supreme Court declined to hear several First Amendment appeals on Monday, ditching a case that dealt with a requirement that gun dealers in Maryland display suicide prevention literature and another case regarding anti-Confederate war monument protesters who were arrested for blocking a street.

The Supreme Court declined to hear several First Amendment appeals on Monday, ditching a case that dealt with a requirement that gun dealers in Maryland display suicide prevention literature and another case regarding anti-Confederate war monument protesters who were arrested for blocking a street. The guns dispute concerned a Maryland county’s ordinance that requires all firearms or ammunition stores to display literature “relating to gun safety, gun training, suicide prevention, mental health, and conflict resolution.” Anne Arundel County, outside of Baltimore, enacted the ordinance in 2022 with the goal of reducing gun violence after local officials declared suicide a public health crisis. Initial violations of the ordinance carried heavy civil fines. The Supreme Court declined to take the series of cases Monday without comment. There were no noted dissents. A gun rights group in the state challenged the requirement, arguing it unlawfully compelled speech with which they partially disagreed. But lower courts upheld the ordinance, saying that it represented permissible commercial regulation. “We conclude that this pamphlet, taken as a whole, addresses suicide as a public health and safety concern and advises gun owners on how they can help,” the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals said in a unanimous ruling in January. “The pamphlet is more in line with other similar safety warnings – widely applicable and accepted – that gun owners should store guns safely, especially to prevent misuse and child access.”