Plaintiffs in NRA Backed Lawsuit Ask Court to Hold Maryland Handgun Law Unconstitutional

Today, the Plaintiffs in an NRA-backed lawsuit challenging Maryland’s Handgun Qualification License law asked the court to rule that the law violates the Second Amendment. The Handgun Qualification Law requires all law-abiding Maryland residents who wish to purchase a handgun to first fill out an application, obtain a copy of their fingerprints from a third-party, attend a lengthy classroom instruction, pass a live-fire exercise, pay a $50 application fee, and wait up to 30 days for the state police to process the information.

According to Maryland’s own expert witness, the Handgun Qualification Law was created to “intimidate” law-abiding citizens from exercising their Second Amendment right to buy a handgun. That is because in addition to the Handgun Qualification Law, Maryland law already requires handgun purchasers to undergo a separate background check, pay a registration fee, and wait seven business days before they can take possession of the gun. These laws force law-abiding citizens who wish to purchase a handgun to wait at least 39 days to obtain this legal item.

The case is called Maryland Shall Issue, Inc., v. Hogan. It was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.

Please stay tuned to www.nraila.org for further updates on this and all of NRA-ILA’s efforts to defend your constitutional rights.