There are thousands of court cases going on throughout the nation at any given point, and only a small fraction of them have anything to do with the Second Amendment.
But a small fraction of such a large number still amounts to a lot of cases by any objective metric.
One of those challenges deals with a woman who was arrested for carrying a gun in Maryland. As Cam detailed on Thursday, she had a permit from his home state, but Maryland didn’t recognize that state’s permits or anyone else’s, and so she was charged like a common criminal.
Now the Second Amendment Foundation and other 2A groups have filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to take up her case.
From a press release:
The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners have filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court urging the Court to grant certiorari in Gardner v. Maryland, a case challenging Maryland’s refusal to honor firearm carry permits issued by other states.
The case involves Eva Marie Gardner, who was arrested for carrying a firearm without a permit after defending herself in Maryland. Ms. Gardner had a Virginia carry permit, but Maryland refuses to honor permits originating from any other state. SAF is joined in the amicus filing by the National Rifle Association, California Rifle & Pistol Association, Second Amendment Law Center, Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
“The Maryland Supreme Court’s ruling defies Bruen by allowing states to force visitors from other states to jump through costly and time-consuming hoops to exercise their right to carry arms for self-defense,” said SAF Director of Legal Research and Education Kostas Moros. “History shows that travelers from other states were not only allowed to carry firearms but often received special exemptions from local restrictions. We urge the Court to intervene and ensure the Second Amendment protects Americans nationwide, regardless of state borders.”
If granted review, this case could affect millions of law-abiding Americans who face arrest and prosecution simply for carrying a firearm with a valid out-of-state permit while traveling through restrictive states like Maryland, California, New York, Illinois, and others.
“This case is essential because it impacts the fundamental right of Americans to carry firearms for self-defense across state lines without fear of prosecution,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Our Second Amendment rights don’t have borders, and SAF is committed to challenging these unconstitutional barriers so Americans can fully exercise their right to keep and bear arms.”
A few states make it pretty easy to get an out-of-state permit, all things considered. Other states make it a major pain in the keister.
For example, getting a Florida permit here in Georgia is relatively trivial. Getting one for New York was a practical impossibility, even if the process theoretically exists.
Maryland is a lot like that, and the truth is that rights don’t evaporate at the state line. If I can travel to Maryland to protest or to worship or anything like that, why is it that my right to keep and bear arms is somehow non-existent because I didn’t undergo some bizarre process?
It’s not. That’s not how rights work, and this challenge seeks to make that explicitly clear.
And, as Moros notes, that wasn’t how it worked historically, which matters in the post-Bruen judicial landscape. You can’t just throw on a bunch of regulations because you feel like it and expect them to survive legal challenges. I know the anti-gunners haven’t quite gotten that just yet, but in time, it will hopefully become so blindingly obvious that even the gun control crowd will have to wake up.
I’m glad SAF filed the brief, and I suspect there will be more to come.
Now, for the Court to see the truth and make the right call…
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