COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — A federal judge in Maryland has refused to dismiss gun charges against a Coast Guard lieutenant accused of stockpiling weapons and drafting a hit list of prominent Democrats and TV journalists.
SEE ALSO: Coast Guard Lieutenant arrested, accused of planning terror attack
U.S. District Judge George Hazel's ruling on Friday paves the way for 50-year-old Christopher Hasson to be tried in October on all four counts in his indictment.
Hasson's lawyers argued that two of the counts, both charging him with unlawful possession of firearm silencers, violate his Second Amendment right to bear arms.
A prosecutor, however, said other courts already have held that the Second Amendment doesn't cover silencers.
Prosecutors have called Hasson a domestic terrorist intent on carrying out a mass killing, but they haven't filed any terrorism-related charges against him since his February arrest.
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