MARYLAND - The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has ruled a Maryland handgun license law as unconstitutional, striking down a gun regulation that has been in effect since 2016.
The Maryland Handgun Qualification Law requires Maryland residents to obtain a handgun qualification license in order to buy a handgun. The process of obtaining that license includes submitting fingerprints, a background investigation, and taking a four-hour firearms safety training course.
According to the US Court of Appeals, once the application for the license is complete, the applicant must wait 30 days for approval before they can move forward with Maryland’s firearm registration process.
In a 2-1 majority opinion published Tuesday, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said the Handgun Qualification Law restricts law-abiding adult citizens’ ability to possess handguns and is unconstitutional. The decision of the case, titled Maryland Shall Issue, Inc. v. Wes Moore, reverses an earlier District Court ruling upholding the law.
The Fourth Circuit Judge who wrote the majority opinion, Circuit Judge Julius Richardson, argued that the law could not hold under a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision (referred to by the judges as Bruen) that said firearm regulation is unconstitutional unless shown to be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition.
“The challenged law restricts the ability of law-abiding adult citizens to possess handguns, and the state has not presented a historical analogue that justifies its restriction; indeed, it has seemingly admitted that it couldn’t find one,” Richardson wrote.
The sole dissenter in the Court’s decision, Senior Circuit Judge Barbara Milano Keenan, said her fellow judges’ “hyperagressive” reading of the Second Amendment would render most US handgun permitting laws unconstitutional.
“This sweeping rule flies directly in the face of Bruen’s discussion of non-discretionary ‘shall-issue’ laws and is not supported by any Supreme Court precedent,” Milano Keenan said in her dissent.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore released a statement Tuesday afternoon, saying he was disappointed in the Fourth Circuit Court’s decision.
“This law is not about stripping away rights from responsible gun owners – it’s about every Marylander having the right to live free from fear,” Moore said.
“Every Marylander has the right to feel safe in their own neighborhood – and I will continue to fight for this law,” the Governor continued. “Our administration is currently looking at all options and reviewing the ruling.”
