Posted on 03/05/2012 10:29:29 AM PST by Bill Buckner
BALTIMORE — A federal judge has ruled that Maryland’s handgun permit law is unconstitutional.
In an opinion filed Monday, U.S. District Judge Benson Everett Legg says a requirement that residents show a “good and substantial reason” to carry a handgun infringes their Second Amendment right to bear arms. He says it isn’t sufficiently tailored to the state’s public safety interests.
Plaintiff Raymond Woollard was denied a renewal of his permit in 2009 because he could not show he had been subject to “threats occurring beyond his residence.” Woollard obtained the permit after fighting with an intruder in his Hampstead home in 2002.
The lawsuit, which names the state police superintendent and members of the Handgun Permit Review Board, was also filed on behalf of the Bellevue, Wash.-based Second Amendment Foundation.
Plaintiff Raymond Woollard was denied a renewal of his permit in 2009 because he could not show he had been subject to "threats occurring beyond his residence." Woollard obtained the permit after fighting with an intruder in his Hampstead home in 2002.
The lawsuit, which names the state police superintendent and members of the Handgun Permit Review Board, was also filed on behalf of the Bellevue, Wash.-based Second Amendment Foundation.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
So does this mean I can carry?
Maryland is unconstitutional.
Maryland is the 50th least free state in the country. The state is 34th in economic freedom but a distant 50th in personal freedom. Maryland’s impositions on personal freedom include the second-strictest gun laws in the country, and marijuana laws are fairly harsh (except that the first offense of high-level possession is a misdemeanor, and there is a weak medical marijuana law), motorists’ freedoms are highly restricted, gambling laws are tight, home schooling laws are burdensome (curricula must be approved by the government), centralized land-use planning is very advanced, eminent domain abuse is totally unreformed, victimless crimes arrest rates are high, and civil unions are not recognized. On the plus side, taxes on beer, wine, and spirits are fairly low, and overall Maryland has one of the least restrictive alcohol control systems in the country. Surprisingly, the state has not enacted complete smoking bans yet. On economic regulation, the state has the usual left-of-center failings on labor law, but more strikingly it has the second-most health insurance mandates in the country (they add 67 percent to the cost).
Carry? Heck you couldn’t even BUY without a permit !
Now, when will California finally have the Constitutional freedoms the other 49 states enjoy?
This must be old data, because Maryland's smoking ban is even more restrictive than all the surrounding states and even extends to private clubs such as American Legion Posts, Moose and Elks' Lodges, etc.
I would not suggest doing so without a carry permit. The ruling, by a single judge, was that the current law is unconstitutional. Stand by for several more rounds, to include at least two more cycles of re-writing the law.
It really doesn’t matter...I lost my guns when my boat hit a large wake. Some day I might dive to the bottom of the Chesapeake to retrieve them.
The General Assembly this session is considering a law that would fine you $100(?) for smoking in your own car if there was a minor on board ...
You can’t smoke in a company vehicle even if you’re alone in the vehicle because of our workplace smoking laws.
Does not surprise me in the least.
I’m moving there later this year. Sounds like fun.
Consider the argument from the National Commie Left on Healthcare – that some are “Free-riders” because they don’t have insurance.
Well, can we apply that to those who don’t carry relying on the deterrent effect of those who do as being “Free riders”?
People who don’t carry get the safety benefit of those who take the time and expense of those who do – shouldn’t they also be required to also carry?
(I’m not accepting the National Commie Left’s argument on health insurance, just using their “Logic” back at them)
You have posited as much sense as you hoped. I wish you well.
Even Lord Baltimore, formerly rolling over in his grave, Catholic founder of Maryland, told each of his embarking passengers from England to America to bring a musket, ammunition and gunpowder. He was no fool.
2009 so only a few years old...
http://mercatus.org/sites/default/files/publication/Freedom_in_the_50_States.pdf
Regards,
TS
There was such a patchwork of bans throughout the state prior to that, it was a defacto state ban anyway.
Now, we just need Fed judges to smack down NYC, Cook County, and CA.
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