State Supreme Court says MoCo, Maryland overstepped with gun restrictions

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The Supreme Court of Maryland has found Montgomery County does not have the authority under state law to prohibit wear-and-carry permit holders from bringing guns within 100 yards of certain public places, according to an April 28 opinion.

The case before the state’s highest court, Engage Armament LLC, et al. v. Montgomery County, Maryland, centered on a series of county law changes aimed at cracking down on gun violence. It now heads back to the Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville for further proceedings in accordance with the state Supreme Court’s opinion.

Mark Pennak, president and counsel for the gun rights group Maryland Shall Issue, told Bethesda Today in a Friday interview that the county law changes at issue in the case created thousands of de-facto gun-free zones that “basically made it impossible to carry in the county, because you couldn’t move around with a firearm.”

“The county has been given authority to do some of that, but they went and way overstepped it, as the court held,” said Pennak, who represented the lead plaintiff before the Maryland Supreme Court. “We regard the opinion basically as a win.”

Pennak said he is also aware of multiple cases pending in federal court through which the U.S. Supreme Court could elaborate on the “sensitive places” issue, including one challenging Maryland’s list of sensitive places as unconstitutional.

“There’s a lot of overlap between the state law and the county law. It’s not the same, but there’s overlap,” Pennak said. “So it makes sense to wait until this gets all sorted out.”