As promised in our previous post (see below), the Second Amendment Law Center recently filed an amicus brief along with several of our strategic partners supporting the case of Maryland Shall Issue, Inc. v. Montgomery County. Joining 2ALC in this brief are the California Rifle and Pistol Association, Second Amendment Defense and Education Coalition, Guns Save Life, Federal Firearms Licensees of Illinois, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners of California, Gun Owners Foundation, and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
Various anti-gun-owner states have passed expansive “sensitive places” legislation that invalidates carry permits in most places and effectively makes carry permits useless. Fighting these vindictive and retaliatory efforts to get around the mandates of the Bruen decision is a primary focus of leading 2A advocacy groups. If these laws survive the many legal challenges brought to strike them down, the flanking approach is liable to spread to other states. So 2ALC will continue to fight these laws everywhere.
At issue in the Maryland case are the provisions of Section 57-1.1 of the Montgomery County Code severely restricting, among other things, the carrying of firearms in “places of public assembly.” After Bruen, came out, Montgomery County passed the ordinance to expand the definition of "place of public assembly," where carry permits would be invalid and guns banned, to include just about all of the county. It also removed exceptions to carry in those places that previously existed for people with licenses to carry in public.
Following a somewhat complex history in the courts, the case is on appeal from a denial of a motion for an injunction to block the ban on handgun possession by CCW holders at or within 100 yards of any “place of public assembly.”
As we’ve seen in other states like Hawaii, Illinois, and California, amicus campaigns are playing an increasingly important role in the post-Bruen world.
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