Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

Gun rights advocates challenge Maryland's restrictions on handgun carry permits

From WaPo:

By Maria Glod
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 30, 2010

The gun rights advocates who successfully challenged the District's gun laws have moved their campaign to Maryland, filing a federal lawsuit claiming that the state's weapons restrictions violate the Second Amendment.

The seven-page suit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore challenges Maryland's restrictions on handgun carry permits. Under state law, applicants must show, among other things, that they are not addicted to drugs or alcohol, don't have a history of violence and have a "good and substantial reason" to carry a gun.

Plaintiff Raymond Woollard, a Navy veteran who once fought with an intruder in his Baltimore County home, was denied a permit because the state found that he could not show he had been subject to "threats occurring beyond his residence," according to the suit.

"He was only denied for lack of a so-called good and substantial reason," said Cary J. Hansel, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers. He said Woollard met all of the other hurdles.

"Imagine a world in which you had to go to the government and show a good and substantial reason to exercise your constitutional rights," Hansel said. "We are not arguing there shouldn't be background checks, fingerprints, mental examinations or training requirements."

The lawsuit comes in the aftermath of recent court victories for gun rights advocates. In June, the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment provides Americans a fundamental right to bear arms that cannot be violated by state or local governments. The decision extended the court's landmark 2008 ruling that struck down the District's decades-old ban on handgun possession.

Raquel Guillory, a spokeswoman for Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler declined to comment on the case, saying that state officials had not reviewed the arguments.

But Guillory said the attorney general's office reexamined state gun laws in the context of the recent Supreme Court rulings. "We have reviewed Maryland gun laws and concluded none of them are so stringent as to violate the Second Amendment," she said The lawsuit, also filed on behalf of the Bellevue, Wash.-based Second Amendment Foundation, names the Maryland State Police superintendent, Col. Terrence B. Sheridan, and three members of the state handgun permit review board as defendants.

Hansel said a permit generally is needed to carry a handgun outside the home in Maryland. There are some exceptions, he said, including taking a gun home after it is bought or traveling to a shooting range.

According to the suit, Woollard, who lives on a Baltimore County farm, was with his family on Christmas Eve 2002 when a man shattered a window and broke into his home. Woollard trained his shotgun on the man, but the two fought and the intruder pulled the gun away. Woollard's son eventually got another gun, ending the fight.

The intruder was convicted of burglary in that case and ultimately was sent to prison after violating probation, according to the lawsuit. The man, who was released from prison in 2005, lives about three miles from Woollard.

Woollard's handgun permit was renewed in 2005, according to the lawsuit. He sought to renew it again last year but was denied. The board found that Woollard had not "submitted any documentation to verify threats occurring beyond his residence, where he can already legally carry a handgun," the suit states.

Ahhh, Maryland. A "good and substantial reason", eh? I present Exhibit A, which we'll call "Baltimore".

http://www.cityrating.com/citycrime.asp ... e&state=MD

Then they need to get after IL, MA, RI, CT, NY,NJ,WI and a few others that have the same types of archaic BS in their laws that restrict a right to carry or make it so damn hard to get that it;s almost a why bother , Hopefully more states will get smart and adopt better laws that allow easier access to CHPs and stop leaving their issue up to a sherrif or other voted in pawns. Would love to see MD get slapped down ,,,I have worked there a lot of times and the only thing I can say is it is right up there in the top 10 Chicken sh&& states in the country,

@VBshooter

You forgot about Kalifornia. Although I have a feeling that any case there will definitely eventually go to the US Supreme Court, no matter what prior case law exists.

I did didn;t I?? I was concentrating on the East Coast I guess,,, My opine of California is if they ever get their heads out of their butt ,the pop will be heard all the way over here in VA and will sound lke a bomb going off,,,,, They have got to be one of most messed up places locally and in DC in the US.,,, Just look at what they send to DC and its easy to see why they're so screwed up

VBshooter wrote: My opine of California is if they ever get their heads out of their butt ,the pop will be heard all the way over here in VA and will sound lke a bomb going off,,,,,

out of 5

totes6 wrote:

VBshooter wrote: My opine of California is if they ever get their heads out of their butt ,the pop will be heard all the way over here in VA and will sound lke a bomb going off,,,,,

out of 5

As in, "The Fart Heard 'Round The World?"

I have to agree; it's why I won't go back and live there. And that popping sound would actually be the heads of Feinstein, Pelosi, Boxer, Kevin deLeon, and Willie Brown all exploding simultaneously.

May this lawsuit against Maryland's un-American, anti-2A laws succeed!

CowboyT wrote

As in, "The Fart Heard 'Round The World?"

Either that or the end of stupidity as we know it in the modern world.. I wouldn't go back there myself either, 4 months was too long,, Too many dipshi%$ and other assorted wackery milling around taking up space and oxygen on the planet... You have to truly wonder what goes on in head of a Pelosi, Boxer, Feinstein or Waxman voter ,, Would love to see the SAF tear them a new one next!!! That would be worth getting tickets to for sure.

Here in the Socialist Republik of Marylandistan there is absolutely no need to present a good and substantial reason to carry a gun,as long as You are :
A - Unemployed for years milking the Welfare System and
A-1 Voted for Obama
A-2 Refuse to be reformed when released from Jail
A-3 Go to the Hospital to cure gunshot ' knife wounds and have never ever paid the bill
B - Deal Drugs
C - Rape Women
C- Abduct children
D - Shoot people for no reason
E - Have proper firearm training ( demonstrated by putting the handgun sideways )
F - Any weapon owned is completely unregistered

Now if you are a Law abiding Citizen, which the MSP has already granted you ( upon investigation ) the right to purchase a Handgun, made you wait 7 days ( regardless you already own several others, you must wait to cool off ), know for a fact you are of sounded mind, have a job, you need to present "a good and substantial reason" and not give a poop the LE will come to your aid after the facts and as often proven to be TOO LATE

God Bless this Replubik , that completely disregards what our founding Fathers / Framers so EXPLICIT and IMPLIED provided us years ago.

VBshooter wrote:Then they need to get after IL, MA, RI, CT, NY,NJ,WI and a few others that have the same types of archaic BS in their laws that restrict a right to carry or make it so damn hard to get that it;s almost a why bother , Hopefully more states will get smart and adopt better laws that allow easier access to CHPs and stop leaving their issue up to a sherrif or other voted in pawns. Would love to see MD get slapped down ,,,I have worked there a lot of times and the only thing I can say is it is right up there in the top 10 Chicken sh&& states in the country,

Actually CT is fairly easy...for non-residents. I received my CT license in 40 days, round trip thru the mail. WI doesnt even have a licensing process in place...so they have a much longer way to go...

mrjam2jab wrote:WI doesnt even have a licensing process in place...so they have a much longer way to go...

Wisconsin would have been shall-issue years ago if not for their governor. The bills get to his desk, usually with relatively broad bipartisan support, and die there. Once he's out they'll adopt carry, reciprocity/recognition will come in time.

Illinois is the tougher nut to crack.