BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms have joined in an amicus (friend of the court) brief in a case challenging Maryland’s process to obtain a license to possess a handgun in one’s home, contending that this violates the Second Amendment.
SAF and CCRKBA are joined by the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors, Professors of second Amendment Law, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms ownership, Millennial Policy Center and Independence Institute. Their joint amicus brief opposes a motion for summary judgment by the defendants, and supports the plaintiffs’ cross motion for summary judgment.
The case was brought by Maryland Shall Issue, Inc.
“We’ve joined in this brief because Maryland’s licensing process is expensive and lengthy, and a right delayed is a right denied,” said SAF founder and CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “No citizen should have to jump through so many hoops simply to have a gun in their own home. There were no such requirements or regulations in Maryland at the time the Constitution was ratified, and the current regulatory scheme seems more intended to discourage responsible firearms ownership than guarantee that gun owners safely handle their firearms.
“The training requirement in Maryland imposes a burden on a citizen’s ability to exercise his or her Second Amendment rights,” he continued. “But evidently in Maryland, as in some other states, the government has arbitrarily decided to treat the Second Amendment right as a regulated privilege, and that simply cannot be allowed to stand.”
The 46-page amicus brief looks at the history of gun rights since colonial days. The brief was prepared by Maryland attorney Gregory M. Kline, with support from Joseph G.S. Greenlee at the Millennial Policy Center and David B. Kopel with the Independence Institute, both located in Denver.
The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.
Is that card a joke???? If not Maryland can go F themselves.
Unfortunately, the card is not a joke. I have one in my wallet.
obama put a lot of judges on the 4th circuit where MD is. The 4th is as liberal as the loony 9th or at least very close to it.
There are some very good conservative leaning circuits, the 7th is fantastic as is the 8th, the 6th, the 5th.
Trump will be able to flip several circuits, the 3rd (NJ, PA, DE, etc), the 11th and a few others. In his 2nd term, he should have a solid chance to flip the 9th circuit
Too bad there practically aren’t any severe gun laws being passed in the districts that have a more objective stance on this civil liberty. Total coincidence, I’m sure.
It is very much not a joke.
But the article is misleading – it is not so much a permit to “to possess a handgun in one’s home” but more a permit to purchase a handgun. Not quite as bad… but still pretty darn ugly.
that’s pushing the envelope just a bit too far…it’s excesses like this that will be their undoing…
United States Bill of Rights License – The person identified heron has been licensed by the United States to freely exercise religion (except for religions deemed terrorist organizations by Executive Order); engage in free speech (except for “hate” speech defined by current Code of Federal Regulations, only licensed and official Press can engage in published written speech in any form of print to include electronic); to assemble (given approval by the local magistrate, government official and upon passing a background check and current length of waiting period, assembly is only authorized no more frequently than in 90-day intervals); petitions to the Government are never authorized unless represented and presented by a recognized Union (see applicable Code of Federal Regulations); any and all residents (owner or tenant agreement) of property waive all rights preventing the quartering of Soldiers in time of emergency as declared by Federal or State Executive Order; a general right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizers may be conducted without Warrant upon receipt of anonymous report to Government officials in education, law enforcement, transportation, healthcare authority, communication or other agency as specified by current legislation when a perceived and undocumented threat exists as ascertained by discovery of medical records, appearance, or other profiling to ensure the safety of the children of the State; it is the duty of all citizens to “see something and say something” and to accept the requirement to serve as a witness against self, kin or neighbor when compelled to do so by the State, except for when a Jury and due process has been waived in the expedience of safety (see immediately preceding right of the State to waive Warrant). This license does not authorize or enumerate any right to the holder other than specified on this card, nor does it prevent the State from executing powers delegated to it by any future legislation or direct to ballot vote of the majority of the people (unless nullified by the State). This license does not authorize any individual the right to self-defense (armed or unarmed) nor does it convey any right to keep and bear arms of any kind. Only persons presenting requirements of privileging (such as a hunting license) may possess a weapon approved by the State unless they hold a documented exception such as performing required duties of active military or law enforcement, and in such cases those weapons presented must be provided by the State. This card must be surrendered to government officials immediately upon request, any such person resisting requests to surrender this card will be in violation of the law, authorizing law enforcement to use lethal force to ensure compliance – THIS IS NOT A PERMIT TO GUARANTEE ANY UNENUMERATED RIGHT – signed Fascist-in-Charge
Of course, any person is always free to engage in the removal from the womb any unborn child for any reason with or without this card.
The privilege to vote can simply be conveyed by passing this card to another person who wants to vote as many times as they desire. Voting is fully transferable.
This card can also be used to cross a border from outside the United States or any of its territories into the Continental United States, but does not guarantee free movement or exit outside of the United States including Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam, except for Puerto Rico. Travel outside of the United States requires government approval and will be prosecuted without due process as intent to flee a crime, any crime until the government determines that a crime was not committed. There is no timeline given for this determination.
I don’t think they’d put it so nicely…or maybe it would be written in more legalese than that, so that people wouldn’t understand that all their rights had been stripped away.
Similar to North Carolina.
The law will be upheld.
A few other states have somewhat similar licensing schemes as well. The U.S. Supreme Court needs to strike down this sort of licensing to purchase/own firearms, especially given that federal firearms licensees call in every purchase to the NCIS to verify that purchasers are not felons.
Of course the NCIS should go away as well. That is a fight for another day.
Don’t you mean NICS? I don’t think the Naval Criminal Investigative Service has anything to do with this.
The odds are that the judge will uphold the law because most judges, politicians and billionaires are all pigs feeding at the same trough.
Mr. Bumble said it best: “If the law supposes that, the law is a ass — a idiot.” Or, as NYC Transport Workers Union leader Mike Quill put it so pithily over 50 years ago in his exaggerated Irish brogue, “the judge can drop dead in his black robes!”
Ironically, it was Quill who dropped dead a few days later.
Good times, man. Good times.
I trust little of second amendment organizations, NRA ect. However if The Second Amendment Foundation pulls this off In joining. It appears perhaps this is where our money should go.
I’m sure the criminal elements will be signing up for their firearms card as soon as they are available.
I was in a gun store across the border from Maryland and noticed a man looking at AR rifles and such. He found one he liked and asked to buy it. But he had a M.D. license so the store had to refuse the sale because the gun was on the banned list. He ledt dejected.
Being a documented subject of a slave state like Jersey, M.D. or NY means you are a second class citizen in the rest of the country. The State ID tags you as a subject under their rules everywhere. If they can block you buying the next step.will be denying you handle or operate since you are under their jurisdiction.
Moving out becomes your only option.
or get a buddy to buy it….then sell it to you…there’s always a way….
Same ANTI-2nd amendment stuff as in Massachusetts. Which requires many hurdles, mandatory safety certification, local police department interviews for FID cards *( for low capacity long guns)*, LTCs *(same as FID- plus police chief interviews. All without an attorney present.)*, and multiple local law enforcement permissions! Except most Pro2@ orgainizations and groups have abandoned all of the gun owners in Massachusetts! Only support comes from the “very watered down Pro2@ group, Gun Owners Action League of Massachusetts.” Even Massachusetts DemoCommies and some RINOs came forward at a State Public Safety committee and exclaimed, “No resident in the state of Massachusetts has a 2nd Amendment right to own weapons! Only a barely tolerated Privilege allowed by politicians and the MA Law Enforcement! ” These Representatives have long since violated their oath to uphold the US Constitution/ Bill of Rights! And constantly infringe upon a residents 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th – 14th Amendment rights…Without every much recourse….
And given that the voters, some of whom are gun owners, or have they all gone elsewhere, or simply given up, keep on send these anti rights types to elective office, by what possible stretch of imagination can they expect different results? I wonder.
…For Further “Pro2@ in Massachusetts.” Go to GOAL.Org
I know this is a long way off but it’s a good litmus test for our new “conservative” court. The 4th will absolutely allow the license law to stand so it is going to get to SCOTUS eventually. We’ll see how much voting for that moron Trump pays off come the end of the day.
Shhhh, nobody’s supposed to know about that. I wanna see what a 30 ft wall does against a 32 ft ladder.
Worse still, say you have to move to MD for a job. You either have to register all “assault weapons” which includes all pistols and revolvers, or bringing them into the state is a felony. Then there’s the part of the law which bans certain enumerated “scary” guns and their “copycats” but lets the police decide whether something is a “copycat” or not. So you don’t really know if you’re going to jail on certain apparently not-banned weapons.
Then you find out that out of some 7 million residents, they’ve only granted about 15k concealed carry permits because they let the police define “cause” which basically means you have to have gotten a restraining order against someone who isn’t in jail because they have actively threatened your life. Other than that, it’s apparently just connected people who can get one.
So your choice is: surrender whatever right you may have enjoyed in your home state so you can keep your job or tell your employer you quit. Or leave your guns with friendlies in another state where they do no good for you at all even though a large percentage of Baltimore is controlled by gangs and drug-dealers who don’t care about the law at all and are only prosecuted on a revolving-door basis: in one, out the other in days.
Wonder why? Law-abiding citizens are afraid they will be prosecuted for wanting to defend themselves so the criminals run amok.
As I mentioned earlier, place the blame where the blame belongs, WITH THE VOTERS. Remember the tale of the kid and the cookie jar. Absent adult supervision, the cookie jar is fast emptied, along with the possibility of a spoiled kid, with an upset stomach.
Liberal gun owners say they are different. No they are not. They vote for the same people who propose these unconstitutional laws.
And they support the welfare industrial complex.
I think I might challenge welfare as voter buying and effective slavery.
With One more Trump appointed SCOTUS, soon as Ginsburg drops dead, we can win it.
expect a steady stream of gun-related cases to begin working there way to the court…going to take awhile….
I already have a license to own and carry….it is called the 2nd Amendment of our Constitution.
At the risk of beating the proverbial dead horse, I note, in plain English, the facts of this matter, as they appear to me. The existing legal/administrative situation in Maryland, as is the case in other states and jurisdictions too is the fault of one group of Marylanders and nobody else, THE VOTERS. It is THE VOTERS who have the ability, the power to fix the problems they created.
As a Marylander, I firmly believe that the HQL was passed (rammed through by that ass O’Mally) as a means to (1) inhibit gun purchases, and (2) raise revenue for his pet projects.
That being said, the “concept” of some kind of safety training is a good one. The best way, however, would probably be what I have been talking about for nearly 50 years:
MAKE FIREARM SAFETY A REQUIREMENT FOR GRADUATING HIGH SCHOOL! [So your family hates guns. … Your kid goes to visit a home with guns, and what does he see? — A GUN! … How do kids handle something new?….”Touchy-feely.”
Now, suppose we add a “modern living course to school curriculums? ….
1. First Aid & CPR.
2. How to change a tire and check the oil in a car.
3. How to cook something other than a TV Dinner/ Microwave mystery meal.
4. How to sew on a button.
5. How to balance a check book …. and, oh yes….
6. HOW TO CHECK TO SEE IF A GUN IS UNLOADED, etc, etc, etc.
It’s OK if gun safety/handling is mandatory before purchasing one, IF AND ONLY IF it is ALSO MANDATORY that the STATE MUST also provide the means to get this training to the public (PREFERABLY FREE!)
The HQL as currently done is assenine. I have been an NRA instructor, and a Maryland Hunter Safety Instructor since 1970. In the late 1970’s and 1980’s, I was certified by the Md. State Police to teach and certify people needing permits to carry.
Later on, I became an NRA Training Counselor.
I needed to buy an old .32 cal. pistol (top break) to use to show new basic pistol students how that particular action worked.
I HAD TO APPLY AND PAY THROUGH THE NOSE FOR A MARYLAND HQL JUST TO BUY THAT STUPID PISTOL. …… If I wanted to go out and shoot somebody with a gun, all I simply had to do was pick up one of the couple of dozen pistols I already had!
I could comment here, however I’m very much afraid I would be repeating myself. Should anyone be interested, see my earlier posts. By the way, I’ll try to address comment, answer questions if I can.
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