Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley is pushing for state lawmakers to put in place a requirement forcing citizens of that state to obtain a $100 license for ownership of a handgun.
This is not a license to carry or conceal a handgun–simply to own one.
In effect, it is the governor’s way of telling Maryland residents they don’t have 2nd Amendment rights unless they successfully jump through the hoops the state places between them and those rights first.
Ironically, Maryland tried to use a very similar tactic with concealed carry permits in their state until spring of last year.
The state took the position that concealed carry permits would only be awarded to Marylanders who could prove they needed to carry a gun. On March 6, 2012, U.S. District Judge Benson Everett Legg ruled such a requirement was unconstitutional, stating, “A citizen may not be required to ‘offer a good and substantial reason’ why he should be permitted to exercise his rights. The right’s existence is all the reason he needs.”
Maryland legislators would be wise to keep Legg’s ruling in mind as Gov. O’Malley presses them to put another requirement between citizens and the exercise of their 2nd Amendment rights.
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