The 4th Circuit Court of appeals has reversed an earlier decision by a three-judge panel of the same court, upholding Maryland’s Handgun Qualification License (HQL) requirement.
In the case Maryland Shall Issue v. Moore, a three-judge panel last November had ruled that the law was unconstitutional. But the court had vacated the agreement until the case could be heard by the full court, which upheld the law despite the earlier decision.
To purchase a handgun in Maryland, a citizen must first obtain an HQL, which requires taking a four-hour class with classroom and live-fire components, and costs several hundred dollars. Other requirements include undergoing a background check that requires submitting a complete set of fingerprints, which the individual must pay for, paying a $50 application fee and then waiting up to 30 days for the state to process the application.
Note that obtaining the HQL still does not allow one to purchase a handgun. The individual must then undergo an additional background check, wait seven business days and pass a NICS check before acquiring the firearm.
“This case requires us to apply the Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. Bruen,” the ruling stated. “We conclude that the Supreme Court in Bruen foreclosed the plaintiffs’ ‘temporary deprivation’ argument by stating that, despite some delay occasioned by ‘shall-issue’ permit processes, this type of licensing law is presumptively constitutional because it operates merely to ensure that individuals seeking to exercise their Second Amendment rights are ‘law-abiding’ persons.”
The ruling continued: “We hold that the plaintiffs have failed to rebut this presumption of constitutionality afforded to ‘shall-issue’ licensing laws like the handgun qualification statute. So, the plaintiffs’ challenge to the HQL statute fails, and we affirm the district court’s award of summary judgment to the state of Maryland.”
The court never considered the second Bruen standard—historical precedence—because it ruled that the law doesn’t violate the plaintiffs’ Second Amendment rights. It’s doubtful the state would have been able to come up with comparable laws at the time of the founding to justify the Maryland law.
“A majority of this Court concludes that Maryland’s handgun license requirement doesn’t implicate the plain text of the Second Amendment, which preserves ‘the right of the people to keep and bear Arms,’” the ruling stated. “That is wrong. Maryland’s law regulates acquiring a handgun, and the Second Amendment’s text encompasses that conduct.”
Writing in dissent, Circuit Judge Julius Richardson, a Donald Trump appointee, was displeased with the manner in which the court went about considering the case.
“Our en banc Court carries Maryland’s defense across the finish line,” he wrote. “Yet 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, for which the majority offers no support beyond negative inference. I cannot assent to this transparent workaround of governing doctrine. The Supreme Court established a two-step, text-and-history framework for assessing all Second Amendment claims. I would treat Maryland’s law like any other and analyze it under this framework.”
Privilege to identify as a southern state: REVOKED
It’s going to the Supreme Court.
Likely so but I would imagine the 2nd circuit is taking notes for some of their pending decisions from post Bruen cases.
You think SCOTUS will take up the case? Seems iffy from recent experience.
Recent experience also suggests that at least one (if not two) of the conservative SCOTUS justices are less enthusiastic about upholding the Second Amendment.
With a number of full circuit decisions trickling in…..yeah or at least substantially more likely than the last few years of lower court issues.
if and when the case goes to SCOTUS, the chances of a 2A favorable ruling increase exponentially..I see this 4th Circuit ruling as expected, and the dissent expressed by the named Judge is an accurate summation of what the majority Marxists went with:essentially delay by placing the burden upon license applicants to ” prove ” their law abiding status vs The State proving their lack thereof..sort of like ” suitability ” as determined by CLEOS until recently in Massachusetts.
They’re also banking on another election steal on November 5 to prevent any future Judicial Nominations from a POTUS who well not perfect on the subject doesn’t HATE the RKBA..
Wth. Why not also have to run through a moat while bench pressing 350 lbs to get your “right” to buy a gat. Geez Loise
“Why not also have to run through a ‘crocodile infested’ moat while bench pressing 350 ‘of live rattlesnakes’ to get your ‘right’ to buy a gat.”
There! FIFY
Thx!
And homie in Baltimore will carry anyway. Good folks denied by cost & racism. Yeah I agree with debbie occasionally🙄
An endless stream of interest balancing. That’s all we ever get and scotus does very little stop it.
https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/87-year-old-pikesville-woman-and-her-daughter-severely-injured-during-carjacking
This judgement is another recent example of how the courts are trying to circumvent the recent Bruen decision.
This recent strategy:
1) Claim that the law in question is not a complete ban on the Second Amendment.
2) Claim that the law in question is therefore not subject to the Bruen decision.
I think that we need a U.S. Supreme Court decision which clarifies unequivocally that any law which involves firearms must pass the Bruen decision standard. Thus, whatever a firearm law imposes, the government would have to show how history and tradition (between 1750 and 1840) had analogous laws.
How come the majority of En Banc court rulings are 2A based and usually in the NEGATIVE? The circuit courts are corrupt in blue states.
5 Secret Service Agents Place On (mandatory administrative) Leave Following Trump Assassination Attempt Investigation!
SO TWO background checks, an additional $250 or more for the “ownership permit, a thirty day wait for processing, and a seven day hold to acquire after purchase. Seems reasonable enough. S’NOT! Purchasing firearms falls within the scope of the 2A.
a right delayed is a right denied.
Gun Owner Fends Off Machete Wielding Invader & (again) DESTROYS A Gun Control Narrative At The Same Time.
Armed robbers deliver karma to anti-gun delegates at DNC in Chicago.
These Dumb Criminals Tried To Use (an assault) Car To Rob A Gun Store. (note: I guess anti-gun will claim this happened because law abiding people can carry guns without permits or a ‘universal background check’.)
So what if a Maryland resident goes to another state and purchases? Would he be able to avoid all that?
Against the law for handguns.
(WBFF) — An 87-year-old Pikesville (Baltimore County) woman is still recovering after injuries she received Wednesday night during a carjacking.
66-year-old Valarie Smith was dropping off groceries to her mom, when she says she was approached by a teen wearing a ski mask and all black clothing.
Never mind waiting again for the USSC. You can stay silent and hold hands with Trump bashing politically inept bumpstock crybabies or campaign for TRUMP/VANCE and stop cackles/tt.
To whom it may concern: Instead of a lame bumpstock gibberish reply first listen to the entire video…