Fourth Circuit upholds Maryland gun licensing law

RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — A Fourth Circuit majority on Friday upheld Maryland's extensive handgun licensing process, frustrating gun rights supporters who had brought a challenge.

"We believe that holding is contrary to controlling Supreme Court precedent and is plainly wrong as a matter of law," plaintiff and gun rights organization Maryland Shall Issue wrote in a social media post.

Along with 13 other judges, Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Barbara Keenan, a Barack Obama appointee, found that Maryland's Firearm Safety Act of 2013 doesn't violate the U.S. Constitution.

Instead, Keenan said the law — which requires gun owners to obtain a handgun qualification license or HQL — simply insures that people seeking to exercise their Second Amendment rights are law-abiding. 

"This is a great day for Maryland and for common-sense gun safety," Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, a Democrat, wrote in a statement. "We must ensure guns stay out of the hands of those who are not allowed, under our laws, to carry them."

"Common-sense gun safety laws protect all Marylanders and can prevent tragedies that leave our communities scarred and broken from ever happening in the first place," Brown added. "I have said it before and I will say it again, hopes and wishes do not stop deadly violence from erupting on our streets, but common-sense gun laws can." 

Much of Friday's opinion centered around the Supreme Court's landmark 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen. In that case, the high court said it was unconstitutional for New York to require that citizens demonstrate a particular need for self-defense before obtaining a license to publicly carry a firearm.

Maryland's HQL is defined as a shall-issue law rather than a may-issue law. In shall-issue legislation, the state has no discretion in who is awarded a qualification, as there are set criteria applicants must meet.

Because of this distinction, a Fourth Circuit majority found that a Bruen test centered on the Second Amendment's text and history was unnecessary. Instead, they pointed to a footnote in Bruen, which specifically referenced shall-issue laws and said they do not "necessarily prevent 'law-abiding, responsible citizens' from exercising their Second Amendment right to public carry."

U.S. Circuit Judges Julius Richardson and Marvin Quattlebaum, both Donald Trump appointees, dissented, arguing in their own opinion that all Second Amendment challenges must be tested under Bruen. 

"Our en banc Court carries Maryland's defense across the finish line," Richardson wrote. "To do so, the majority stretches implications from Supreme Court dicta to establish a carveout from Supreme Court doctrine.  It then defends this result by grounding it in a contrived reading of the Second Amendment's plain text."

U.S. Circuit Judge Allison Rushing, another Trump appointee, fell somewhere in the middle, arguing in a concurring opinion that the Bruen analysis was necessary but that the Maryland law passed the test. She was joined in that concurrence by two other justices.

Author, attorney and gun rights advocate Dave Kopel submitted a brief in the case on behalf the Independence Institute, a libertarian think tank.

In a phone interview, he argued Maryland's statute goes too far by imposing rules on home gun ownership. 

"Nobody would ever say it's okay for the government to tell you on your own property, you know, when you're going around your farm, that you can't carry," Kopel said. "In my view, the home is different, and therefore, the Maryland system just goes too far."

Friday's ruling comes after the Fourth Circuit previously upheld Maryland's ban on semiautomatic weapons on Aug. 6. Following a second gun-control in less than a month, Kopel argued the appeals court was hostile to the Second Amendment. 

Under the Firearm Safety Act, handgun permit applicants must pass a background check and take a firearm safety training course. Vendors are also barred from selling handguns to customers if they do not present a valid license. The Maryland General Assembly passed the law following the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, in which a 20-year-old gunman armed with an AR-15-type Bushmaster killed 20 first-graders and six adults.

The training course must include at least four hours of instruction by a qualified instructor, and the applicant must fire at least one live round to demonstrate the safe operation and handling of a firearm. After completing the course, applicants must wait upwards of 30 days for the Maryland State Police to conduct a background check and approve or deny the license application. Violating the HQL requirement is a misdemeanor punishable by up to five years in jail and a $10,000 fine.

In a statement to Courthouse News after the ruling, Karen Herren, executive direct of the group Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence, applauded the decision.

"This ruling affirms the importance of responsible gun ownership and the role of common-sense measures in reducing gun violence,” she said in an email. “Licensing law has been a critical tool in keeping our communities safe, and today’s decision is a victory for public safety and the well-being of all Marylanders." 

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