the fat lady sings.
Posted on 07/25/2012 8:36:43 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
A federal judge has ordered Maryland officials to stop enforcing a law barring state residents from receiving concealed-carry handgun permits unless they provide a “good and substantial reason” to carry their weapons in public.
U.S. District Court Judge Benson Everett Legg on Monday lifted the stay on his March ruling, which struck down a Maryland law requiring applicants to prove that they need to carry a gun for workplace duties or as protection from a specific threat. The order goes into effect Aug. 7.
Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, a Democrat, has appealed the initial ruling and could seek another stay to further delay its enforcement, but gun rights advocates say the judge’s decision puts them one step closer to finalizing a landmark victory.
“We are, after all, talking about a civil right,” said Dave Workman, spokesman for the Second Amendment Foundation, a Bellevue, Wash.-based group that provided financial backing for the plaintiff in the lawsuit. “You should not have to explain why you want to exercise a fundamental civil right.”
The lawsuit was filed against the state in 2010 by Raymond Woollard, who received a Maryland gun permit in 2003 after an armed altercation inside his home but was denied renewal in 2009 by Maryland State Police and the state’s Handgun Permit Review Board because he could not provide documents to “verify threats beyond his residence.”
Judge Legg sided with Mr. Woollard, ruling that the law functioned as an unconstitutional rationing system designed to reduce the number of guns in public while ignoring whether applicants are fit to carry them.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Washington Times’ take on the order.
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
PING...in case you didnt see this
BANG!
Marylanders got a Legg up on their 2nd amendment rights.
This situation is a teensy bit better than Illinois’ — but still. Nobody, not Maryland, not anybody else, has shown that honest citizens ought not to pack at will.
I remember the days when court rulings like this ruling were the norm. Hope we see those days again!
Does this turn Maryland into a “shall issue” state?
Worth remembering.
Seems like all you’d have to say is “the government is the threat” and case closed, permit issued.
All of the police should go on strike!!!(/s)
the fat lady sings.
Why can’t the simple term “shall not be infringed” be understood. To me that means if your 10 states away and you pass a law impeding my rights to defend myself, it’s still infringing because I may need to go there someday. I don’t understand why the legal system has such a problem with English.
Maybe there should be a law in place requiring a citizen have a good reason why they should be allowed to exercise their 1st amendment rights, or any rights. Maybe the citizens should require the govt. to have a good reason why they need my tax money to give it to someone else.
Truer than you think. I have it on (very) good authority that if the O'Malley administration cannot somehow get the stay reinstated by the deadline that the Maryland State Police will be instructed to stop processing permit applications.
This will be fought in court for years. I am hoping rather for a federal reciprocity law...and so I keep my Virginia permit alive.
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