Broadly prohibiting licensed gun-carry across most of Maryland violates the Second Amendment.
That’s according to a new ruling from US District Judge George L. Russell issued Friday. He struck down several, though not all, of the state’s recently adopted location restrictions for licensed gun carriers as unconstitutional and issued a permanent injunction against their enforcement.
“[T]he Court will permanently enjoin Maryland’s laws restricting the carrying of firearms in locations selling alcohol for onsite consumption, private buildings without the owner’s consent, and within 1,000 feet of a public demonstration,” Judge Russell wrote in Kipke v. Moore.
The ruling makes Maryland the latest state to have its Bruen-response law whittled away by gun-rights challenges. It also extends gun-rights activists’ winning streak against laws requiring affirmative consent from owners of private property generally accessible to the public, such as stores and restaurants, before being allowed to carry there. The provision, nicknamed “the vampire rule” by gun-rights activists, has been adopted in nearly every state whose gun-carry laws were upended by the Supreme Court’s 2022 New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen ruling. They have also been struck down or enjoined in every legal challenge to date.
Maryland was one of the earliest states to respond to the Bruen decision with new restrictions, following just behind New York and New Jersey. It passed Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 824 in April 2023, which together increased the application fees for new “wear and carry” permits, heightened permit training requirements, and significantly expanded the list of so-called gun-free zones.
Judge Russell, a Barack Obama appointee, previously called those efforts into question when he issued a preliminary injunction against some of the state’s location restrictions last September. His ruling Friday mirrored the arguments and basic findings from last year’s order.
Though he noted that parties on both sides of the case filed supplementary briefs to the court since it issued that injunction, he said, “none of them change the Court’s decision or require the Court to revisit its analysis.” Accordingly, Judge Russell also upheld several of Maryland’s sensitive places restrictions as constitutional in the same way he did before.
“State Defendants’ Cross Motions for Summary Judgment will be granted as to the Kipke Plaintiffs’ Fourteenth Amendment claims as well as the claims regarding: State Parks; mass transit facilities; schools and school grounds; museums; stadiums; healthcare facilities; government buildings; amusement parks; racetracks; and casinos,” he wrote.
Jennifer Donelan, a spokesperson for Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown (D.), told The Reload that Brown’s office had “no comment” on the ruling.
Despite not succeeding in all of their claims, gun-rights advocates celebrated the ruling. Maryland Shall Issue, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), and the Firearms Policy Coalition all served as parties to the case, as did the National Rifle Association’s Maryland affiliate in a separate consolidated challenge.
“We are pleased that the Court found Maryland’s draconian ‘anti-carry’ rule to be unconstitutional,” Adam Kraut, SAF Executive Director, said in a statement. “Such a provision flies in the face of this nation’s history and tradition.”
The National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action said it planned to appeal the decision to the Fourth Circuit in an to attempt to have the locations upheld by Russell’s ruling “invalidated as well.”
UPDATE 8-05-2024 7:24 PM EASTERN: This piece has been updated with comment from the Maryland Attorney General’s Office.
