Maryland lawmakers are considering new gun measures in response to last year's U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a New York law that was very similar to Maryland’s “good and substantial reason” standard for permits to carry concealed handguns.
The court's decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen ended a requirement for people to demonstrate a particular need to get a license to carry a concealed gun in public, saying it violates Second Amendment rights.
Maryland is one of several states impacted by the ruling.
Supporters and opponents of the proposed legislation in Maryland were in the state capitol to testify on several measures Tuesday. They included limiting where someone can carry a gun and raising the age when people can own a rifle or shotgun to 21.
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“In the wake of the Supreme Court decision on Bruen, we’re really anxious to make sure that we do everything we can to strengthen our concealed-carry permitting process in Maryland to make sure we’re doing all we can to keep all of our communities safe,” said Melissa Ladd, chapter leader of Maryland Moms Demand Action.
One measure would prohibit a person from carrying a firearm within 100 feet of “a place of public accommodation," such as restaurants, movie theaters, stadiums and retail establishments.
Dan Miller, who came to Annapolis to rally against the legislation, said he is concerned that lawmakers are eroding Second Amendment rights critical to self-defense.
“At the same time, the government is not providing security for us everywhere," Miller said. "I can’t take my family to the park and trust that they’d be safe, and they’re trying to make it so I cannot protect them myself or have the ability to protect them myself.”
The Supreme Court's ruling last year has prompted the governors of New York and New Jersey to enact new firearms restrictions, but the new laws were swiftly challenged in court.
While testimony in Maryland focused on legislation in the Senate, the Maryland House also has legislation before it, and a committee chairman was planning to file another bill this week in response to Bruen.
Del. Luke Clippinger, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said his proposal would add a requirement to prevent someone from getting a wear-and-carry permit while on supervised probation who has been convicted of a crime that is punishable by more than a year of incarceration. That would also apply to people on probation after being convicted of driving while impaired or violating a protective order. The bill expands classroom instruction required to get wear-and-carry permits.
“We had a subjective standard that no longer works, so we’re going to put in these objective standards,” Clippinger said. “There’s no question that the jurisprudence across the country is still kind of in flux, but we’re putting a flag in the ground here and saying this is where we want to begin.”
A separate Senate measure would expand the purpose of the Maryland State Police Gun Center to include the tracking of all firearms surrendered under final protective orders.
Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat, said guns are often used in the most threatening ways in cases of domestic violence and intimate-partners violence.
"And so the more access we have to information about how best to prevent those crimes in a constitutional and lawful way that protects the right to privacy, I am certainly very supportive, and I know the majority of the senators in the Senate are supportive," Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat, told reporters Tuesday.
Lawmakers also are weighing a measure that would enable victims of gun violence to sue gun manufacturers.
