After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right to bear arms last year, several states responded by making it easier to obtain carry permits but harder to use them. That strategy proved to be legally perilous: Federal judges ruled that sweeping restrictions on where people could carry handguns for self-defense in New York and New Jersey were inconsistent with the Supreme Court's decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. A recent preliminary injunction continues that trend, barring Maryland from enforcing its restrictions on firearms near public demonstrations, its ban on carrying guns in bars and restaurants that serve alcohol, and its presumptive rule against guns in other businesses open to the public.
U.S. District Judge George L. Russell's September 29 opinion in Kipke v. Moore, which addresses two lawsuits by Maryland carry permit holders and gun rights groups, confirms that politicians were mistaken in thinking they could defy Bruen by expanding the list of "sensitive places" where firearms are not allowed. At the same time, it shows that judges disagree about how to apply the constitutional test established by Bruen, which asks whether a gun control law is "consistent with this Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation."
