The U.S. Supreme Court rebuffed gun-rights advocates by letting stand a Maryland law that requires people to show a special need for protection to get a permit for carrying a handgun in public.
Six months after leaving intact a similar New York law, the justices today turned away an appeal by a Maryland man who was denied renewal of his permit to carry a handgun. A federal appeals court upheld the law in March, saying it was a reasonable effort to protect public safety and prevent crime.
The rejection, at least for the time being, keeps the justices out of the fray over the constitutional right to bear arms. The nation’s highest court hasn’t considered a Second Amendment case since 2010, when it said people have a right to have a handgun in the home for self-defense purposes.
Under the appeals court ruling, “the Second Amendment has no practical impact beyond the threshold of one’s home,” argued Raymond Woollard, the Maryland man who challenged the law along with the Bellevue, Washington-based Second Amendment Foundation. The National Rifle Association also backed the appeal.
Maryland is one of six states that generally require people to make special showing to get a carry permit. The state’s requirement doesn’t apply to police officers, prosecutors, judges and security guards.
The law protects citizens by “decreasing the availability of handguns to criminals via theft, lessening the risk that basic confrontations will turn deadly and reducing escalations of routine police encounters with citizens into high-risk situations,” Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler argued in court papers.
