Maryland Group Asks Supreme Court To Explore State’s Handgun Licensing Requirements

Recent off the ninth Circuit Court docket of Appeals ruling that Maryland’s Handgun Qualification License requirement is constitutional, plaintiffs within the case are asking the U.S. Supreme Court docket to take up the difficulty.

On September 27, plaintiffs within the case Maryland Shall Subject v. Moore filed a petition with the Supreme Court docket in hopes the onerous regulation received’t meet muster earlier than that physique.

“Simply two years in the past, this Court docket rejected the interest-balancing strategy adopted by practically each decrease court docket, and emphatically held that the Second Modification ‘calls for a take a look at rooted within the Second Modification’s textual content, as knowledgeable by historical past,’” the petition states. “However sure decrease courts—decided to keep away from making use of Bruen’s holding—are disregarding this Court docket’s precedents and straining the constitutional textual content to suit desired coverage ends. That’s precisely what the en banc 4th Circuit did on this case to uphold Maryland’s ahistorical and burdensome two-step licensing and registration scheme for acquisition and possession of a handgun for self-defense.”

In reality, the method in query is kind of sophisticated. Earlier than possessing any handgun, Maryland requires residents to acquire a Handgun Qualification License, which isn’t a simple activity. To qualify, residents have to be fingerprinted, attend a half-day coaching course, reside fireplace a handgun and go a background test—all of which takes vital time, effort and cash. As soon as they obtain their license, there are nonetheless hurdles to beat, as one other Maryland regulation requires a background test and seven-day wait earlier than taking possession of a bought handgun.

In late 2023 a three-judge panel of the ninth Circuit Court docket dominated that the HQL requirement unconstitutional. However on August 23, an en banc panel of the 4th Circuit issued its resolution upholding the Handgun Qualification License regulation. 

To plaintiffs, the burdensome course of, which permits the state as much as 30 days to approve an software, represents a blatant disregard of the suitable to maintain and bear arms protected by the Second Modification.

“Compliance with the HQL Requirement locations vital burdens on possession and acquisition of a handgun unknown on the Founding and is an outlier even in fashionable instances,” the plaintiffs’ petition states. “Failure to conform could lead to fines, imprisonment and the everlasting lack of firearm rights.”

The petition additional states: “The HQL Requirement is an unconstitutional outlier that the Founders by no means would have tolerated. Petitioners have proven that Maryland’s novel and excessive acquisition-and-possession licensing regime burdens protected conduct. And Maryland has not met its burden to show that the HQL Requirement—step certainly one of its two-step licensing scheme—is per historic custom.

Ultimately, Maryland Shall Subject is asking the Supreme Court docket to contemplate the case utilizing its personal two-step course of handed down within the Bruen case in 2022.

“This Court docket ought to grant certiorari to forestall decrease courts from studying exception-upon-exception into Bruen’s customary—earlier than that customary exists no extra,” the petition concludes. “The structure ‘calls for a take a look at rooted within the Second Modification’s textual content, as knowledgeable by historical past,’ not exams rooted in dicta and no matter constructions of textual content greatest match decrease courts’ desired coverage ends. This Court docket ought to as soon as once more say so.”