Appeals Court Set to Hear Lawsuit on State Control of Handgun Ownership

RICHMOND, Va. — A federal appeals court is scheduled to hear a case in March that will determine whether Maryland’s strict law on the licensing of handguns withstands a constitutional challenge by gun rights advocates.

Other states are adopting similar laws requiring training and background checks as they struggle to control rising rates of gun violence.

The Maryland case is likely to set a precedent on Second Amendment rights that affects all other states, according to attorneys handling the case.

“It’s considered to be persuasive precedent elsewhere,” Mark Pennak, president of the gun rights group Maryland Shall Issue, told The Well News.

Pennak also is an attorney and a plaintiff in the case of Maryland Shall Issue, Inc. v. Wes Moore, which is scheduled to be heard by the full 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia.

Maryland Shall Issue is joined by two state residents and a gun store as plaintiffs. The National Rifle Association is paying their legal fees.

Pennak called Maryland’s gun ownership restrictions “profound and expensive and difficult,” as well as a violation of Second Amendment rights for private citizens to bear arms.

Attorneys for Maryland argue there is no violation of the Second Amendment. They say the restrictions in the state’s Firearm Safety Act still allow gun ownership but only for state residents who represent no threat to innocent persons.

Maryland won in U.S. District Court during the first courtroom test of the Maryland Shall Issue lawsuit.

A three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court.

“If you live in Maryland and you want a handgun, you must follow a long and winding path to get one,” the first appellate ruling said.

The “winding path” refers to a procedure that starts by filling out an application for gun ownership, waiting a week for a background check and getting a separate permit to carry the gun, rather than merely keeping it at home.

For handguns — as opposed to rifles or shotguns — an additional preliminary step requires a “handgun qualification license.” It requires applicants to be fingerprinted and submit to a more extensive background “investigation.”

If they are cleared through the investigation, they must take a four-hour safety training course and wait 30 days before continuing to the rest of the process.

Maryland Shall Issue is seeking an injunction against the preliminary step for handguns.

“And plaintiffs’ challenge must succeed,” the 4th Circuit’s first ruling said. “The challenged law restricts the ability of law-abiding adult citizens to possess handguns, and the state has not presented a historical analogue that justifies its restriction. Indeed, it has seemingly admitted that it couldn’t find one.”

The “analogue” refers to the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 2022 case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen that state gun laws must be “consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation” before they are constitutionally valid.

Maryland appealed to the full — or en banc — 4th Circuit, which resulted in the hearing scheduled for March 21. The 4th Circuit presides over cases from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina and from federal administrative agencies.

The appeals process goes first to a three-judge panel then to the en banc court, which consists of 14 judges. Their majority vote determines who wins the lawsuit. The only other possible appeal would be to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I welcome the court’s decision to rehear this case and will continue to defend commonsense gun laws to protect Marylanders from these unnecessary and very preventable tragedies,” Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, a Democrat, said in a statement.

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