Court Ruling Overturning MD Gun Law Could Get New Hearing

BALTIMORE, MD — Attorney General Anthony Brown has filed a petition for a new hearing after a federal appeals court last month overturned a decade-old state law requiring Marylanders to obtain a license to purchase a handgun.

In a statement Wednesday, Brown said his office filed a petition for a rehearing en banc after the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit struck down the law in November. In its ruling, the court determined the law — which requires potential gun owners to submit fingerprints for a background check and take a firearms safety class — was unconstitutional.

Brown's request came a day after the court's ruling was placed on hold following an appeal request by Gov. Wes Moore, the Washington Post reported.

If granted, the case would be heard again before the full 15-judge appellate court.

"The Second Amendment does not prohibit states from enacting common-sense gun laws like
Maryland’s handgun licensing law," Brown said in his statement. "My office will continue to
defend laws that are designed to protect Marylanders from gun violence."

Last month's decision by the appeals court was based on a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which found gun restrictions were unconstitutional unless enacted around the time of the Second Amendment’s adoption.

"The challenged law restricts the ability of law-abiding adult citizens to possess handguns, and the state has not presented a historical analog that justifies its restriction; indeed, it has seemingly admitted that it couldn’t find one," Circuit Judge Julius N. Richardson wrote in an opinion obtained by the Baltimore Banner. "Under the Supreme Court’s new burden-shifting test for these claims, Maryland’s law thus fails, and we must enjoin its enforcement."

In last year's decision, the Supreme Court struck down a New York law requiring people to demonstrate a specific need for carrying a gun to get a concealed carry license. In a 6-3 opinion, the justices said the requirement violated the Second Amendment right to “keep and bear arms.”

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority that the Constitution protects "an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home," according to The Associated Press.

That right is not a "second-class right," Thomas wrote. "We know of no other constitutional right that an individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officers some special need."

Maryland is among several states — including California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island — that have laws similar to New York.

Maryland's current regulation for potential gun owners was included in Maryland’s Firearm Safety Act of 2013, which lawmakers enacted following the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead in Connecticut, the Banner reported.