4th Circuit Tosses Maryland’s Handgun Licensing Requirement
RICHMOND, Va. — A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Maryland’s preliminary handgun-licensure requirement is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced.
In its ruling, a divided 4th Circuit held that the requirement unlawfully restricts the ability of law-abiding adults to possess guns.
Passed in 2016, Maryland’s Handgun Qualification Law requires a person who wishes to buy a handgun to apply for the license.
To qualify, a person must be a state resident and at least 21 years old. Additionally, the applicant must submit fingerprints, undergo a background check and successfully complete a four-hour course that includes firing at least one live round at a firing range.
While the law does not prohibit individuals from owning handguns at some point in the future, “you must follow a long and winding path to get one,” the majority wrote in its opinion.
The opinion continued: “In order to get a handgun, plaintiffs still have to follow all of the law’s steps. And, although they will be able to complete each one, it is impossible to do so right away.
“Plaintiffs can’t receive a license to legally acquire a handgun until the state reviews their applications, which can take up to 30 days. So, no matter what plaintiffs do, there will be a period of up to 30 days where their ability to get a handgun is completely out of their control.
“In other words, though it does not permanently bar plaintiffs from owning handguns, the challenged law deprives them of that ability until their application is approved, no matter what they do,” the majority wrote.
It also found that Maryland’s law failed to pass muster under the terms of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen.
In that ruling, which dealt specifically with conceal carry permits, opinion author Justice Clarence Thomas posited that when evaluating a regulation, courts should not consider whether the law is in the public good, but whether in comports with the locale’s “historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
In this case, the 4th Circuit majority wrote, “the two historical examples that Maryland cites are not ‘relevantly similar’ to the challenged law.”
“And it has offered no other historical evidence to justify its law. Indeed, Maryland admitted at oral argument that it had not presented a proper historical analogue for the challenged law, noting that it had identified no founding-era laws that ‘required advance permission’ before a citizen could purchase a firearm,” the majority said.
In dissent, Senior Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Barbara Keenan wrote that the majority ”bases its holding on the premise that if a law affects a prospective handgun purchaser’s ability to obtain a handgun ‘now,’ the law is presumptively unconstitutional.
“This sweeping rule flies directly in the face of Bruen’s discussion of non-discretionary ‘shall-issue’ laws and is not supported by any Supreme Court precedent,” Keenan wrote. “Simply stated, the majority’s hyper-aggressive view of the Second Amendment would render presumptively unconstitutional most non-discretionary laws in this country requiring a permit to purchase a handgun.”
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore also denounced the ruling.
“This law is not about stripping away rights from responsible gun owners — it’s about every Marylander having the right to live free from fear,” he said in a written statement.
“Commonsense gun laws are critical to protecting all Marylanders from the gun violence that has terrorized our communities. I am determined to do more than just give thoughts and prayers and attend funerals — and that’s why this law is vital to our administration’s commitment to keeping guns out of the wrong hands and saving lives,” he continued.
“Every Marylander has the right to feel safe in their own neighborhood — and I will continue to fight for this law. Our administration is currently looking at all options and reviewing the ruling,” Moore said.
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue
