WASHINGTON — A closely divided Supreme Court refused Monday to hear a 2nd Amendment challenge to the bans on semiautomatic rifles in Maryland, California and eight other blue states.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a challenge to the legality of state restrictions on assault-style rifles and large-capacity ammunition magazines, passing up for now cases that offered the justices a chance to further expand gun rights.

A split Supreme Court is declining to hear a challenge to state bans on assault weapons, a term referring to semiautomatic rifles that are popular among gun owners and that have also been used in mass