After SCOTUS Decision on Maryland’s Gun Law, Legislators Want to Ramp It Up

The Supreme Court elected not to hear a challenge to Maryland’s law that requires people to qualify with a handgun in order to get a concealed carry permit. How they reached that decision is really beyond me since nothing about that is remotely in line with either Bruen or Rahimi as I understand those decisions, but that’s what happened.

That was awful for the people of Maryland.

However, it seems that was just the beginning. Lawmakers there took that as a green light to run roughshod over the Second Amendment and are introducing something even more egregious.

U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen and Congressman Jamie Raskin (both D-Md.) reintroduced their Handgun Permit to Purchase Act, legislation to expand adoption of state and local permit-to-purchase gun safety laws. The lawmakers’ bill creates an incentive for state and local governments to implement laws that require individuals to obtain a license before purchasing a handgun.

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In the Senate, this legislation is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy (both D-Conn.). In the House, it is cosponsored by Congresswoman Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.).

“Too many families, loved ones, and communities across America have had their lives forever scarred by the epidemic of gun violence gripping our nation. Permit-to-purchase laws have been proven to reduce gun violence and help keep firearms out of dangerous hands, and Maryland’s handgun licensing law demonstrates that we can take steps to address gun violence while protecting Americans’ rights. States require licenses to drive a car in order to protect public safety – requiring a license to buy a handgun should be a no-brainer,” said Senator Van Hollen, who first introduced this legislation in 2015.

Let’s understand this here and now: The only “evidence” suggesting this accomplishes anything are incredibly flawed studies, such as one that tried to evaluate the impact of Connecticut’s similar law. That study created a “virtual” Connecticut for comparison that was pretty arbitrary, but then also cut off the period examined right before the state’s homicide rate surpassed where it was before the law was passed.

This doesn’t make people safer.

It wouldn’t. It wouldn’t because the people who are the problem aren’t going to gun stores to buy their guns. They’re getting them illicitly, either by stealing them or buying stolen guns from others. So this won’t make anyone safer.

Further, no other right protected by the Constitution has any such thing in place. There is no permit to buy a computer or permit to start preaching the Gospel. None of that is in place, nor would we tolerate it.

This shouldn’t be tolerated either.

My hope is that this is a bridge too far, even for Maryland. The people there deserve better, but that’s only going to happen if they start voting for better. I don’t see that happening, unfortunately, and based on what’s in place, I firmly believe this is going to pass if given half a chance.

That means folks there need to step up and make sure it doesn’t get that half a chance. Otherwise, Maryland is going to start making Oregon look like freaking Texas.