Supreme Court Receives Petition on Maryland Concealed Carry Restrictions

The Supreme Court received a petition Wednesday that could lead the justices to consider concealed carry laws again. The filing was submitted by the Second Amendment Foundation along with Maryland Shall Issue, Firearms Policy Coalition, the Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Association and four private citizens.

Maryland and other states passed laws after the 2022 ruling that imposed new limits on where permit holders could carry firearms. The petition states that some restrictions on public transit, demonstrations, state parks and state forests existed before the 2022 decision, while others were added by the Gun Safety Act of 2023.

The Maryland law prohibits carry on mass transit, in restaurants, at demonstrations and in medical facilities. It also includes a provision that presumptively bars concealed carry on private property open to the public unless the owner invites the permit holder.

The petition notes that companion legislation removed the requirement that applicants show a good and substantial reason to obtain a permit, a standard that Maryland courts had already found unconstitutional following the 2022 ruling.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit struck down portions of a similar New York law on Monday. A senior director at the Second Amendment Foundation stated that the Supreme Court had already heard arguments in a related Hawaii case involving a comparable restriction.

Democratic Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.