MONTGOMERY, Alabama --- Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange joined 19 other states in filing a brief asking a federal appeals court to overturn a Maryland law banning assault guns.

The attorneys general say the ban includes some of the most commonly owned rifles in the country, including the AR-15.

The law also bans buying, selling, receiving or manufacturing detachable magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, which are standard on most modern handguns, the court brief said.

Maryland passed the Firearm Safety of 2013 a few months after the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Connecticut.

Guns rights advocates, firearms dealers and others challenged the law as an infringement on Second Amendment rights.

The district court disagreed, ruling that the law served its intent to protect the public and law enforcement from the banned weapons without infringing on what it called the "core Second Amendment right" to use firearms for protection at home.

The plaintiffs appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

In their brief opposing the decision, the attorneys general said "the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to weapons typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes."

Other states joining the amicus brief are Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

The case is Kolbe v. O'Malley.