The Runback: Gun Case Exposes Democrats
Maryland's Democrats showed once again how little they respect the Constitution
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The Monday Thought
You may have missed it over the Thanksgiving Holiday, but Maryland’s Handgun Qualification Licensing scheme (HQL) was deemed unconstitutional by the U.S. Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit:
A federal appeals court overturned one of Maryland’s toughest gun-control laws Tuesday, saying the decade-old handgun licensing statute that required fingerprinting, firearms training and a waiting period of up to a month violated the Second Amendment.
The ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit is among the first to strike down handgun permit requirements under a legal test established by the Supreme Court in 2022 that requires judges to consider whether modern-day regulations mirror what was in place around the time of the country’s founding.
The panel voted 2-1 to block Maryland’s enforcement of a key part of a 2013 law that was passed by Democratic legislators after the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. It required that handgun buyers, who already faced background checks and waiting periods for purchases, obtain an additional “handgun qualification license” from Maryland officials and wait up to 30 days to have it approved.
A key sentence reminds of us something that was said by literally every supporter of gun rights when the law passed ten years ago:
“The law’s waiting period could well be the critical time in which the applicant expects to face danger,” the appeals court stated.
The unconstitutionality of the HQL requirement was always obvious, even more so after the NYSRPA v. Bruen last year.
But of course, constitutionality has never been that important to the Democrats, most of whom said gonzo things like this:
Brian Frosh, who shepherded the law to passage as a state senator in 2013 and later defended it as attorney general, said the 4th Circuit opinion “is so wrongheaded it defies description.”
Frosh said the court refused to consider the goal of the legislation, which was to ensure that dangerous people don’t obtain handguns and those who do own them know how to operate them safely.
“It’s not just that they failed to use a wide-angle lens to look at the policy that underlies the law. It’s that they look through the wrong end of the telescope at it,” said Frosh, who is now retired.
Even considering the new standard for evaluating gun laws under Bruen, the court was still wrong, Frosh said.
“It’s another in a line of decisions that will result in more death, more injuries, more suicides, and to what end?” Frosh asked. “So that folks can get a gun the day they walk into a store? And nobody has an opportunity to decide whether they will be a threat to their spouses, to their children, to their families, to society at large if they get one.”
Frosh is a lawyer and knows damn well that the purpose of the court is not to “consider the goal of the legislation” when determining the constitutionality of a law. It’s sad that such a political animal ever served as Maryland’s Attorney General.
He also doesn’t seem concerned about “decisions that result in more death” after his decades of championing abortion
Frosh isn’t the only Democrat who said bonkers things:
“This law is not about stripping away rights from responsible gun owners — it’s about every Marylander having the right to live free from fear,” Moore, a Democrat, said in the statement.
Ironically, more Marylanders would live free from fear if they were able to adequately arm themselves to protect their lives and families from the crime wave in Maryland that endangers many Maryland communities.
”Today’s decision is crazy,” Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat, said in a statement. “Every responsible gun owner supports basic firearm training and keeping guns out of criminals’ hands. This decision will unequivocally lead to more gun violence and firearm-related deaths.”
Responsible gun owners were getting firearms training anyway. It’s ironic that Ferguson talks about “keeping guns out of criminals’ hands” when he opposes common-sense proposals that would actually keep guns out of criminals’ hands, instead focusing on trying to make it harder for law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms.
Every policy Ferguson has ever supported kept guns in the hands of criminals at the expense of law-abiding gun owners.
All of these comments go to show just how little Maryland Democrats respect the U.S. Constitution and the process that protects Maryland citizens from the constant overreach of legislative Democrats. But it also goes to show you that Maryland Democrats continue to prioritize making guns harder to own at the expense of keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.
The Fourth Circuit is correct.