Maryland Attorney General Appeals Gun Control Ruling

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- Maryland's attorney general has appealed a decision by a three-judge panel that sent the state's assault weapons ban back to a lower court for review.

Attorney General Brian Frosh announced Friday the state has asked the entire 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, to hear the case.

Frosh is asking for the rehearing so that the full court weighs in on how Maryland's ban on assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines should be analyzed for constitutionality.

A federal judge in Baltimore ruled the assault weapons ban should be reviewed using a constitutional test that allows for laws that protect important public interests such as health and safety. But a divided three-judge panel determined in a 2-1 decision that the ban should face the strictest level of constitutional review.