Supreme Court of Maryland Strikes Down Parts of Montgomery County Ordinance

 

 Maryland State Flag

 

The Supreme Court of Maryland has ruled in favor of Maryland Shall Issue on several issues in a case challenging a Montgomery County ordinance. The lawsuit was commenced in 2021. On April 28, 2026, on x.com, Maryland Shall Issue posted this:

 The Supreme Court of Maryland issued its decision today in our challenge to the Montgomery County ordinance that basically banned carry by permit holders through out the County. On that issue we completely prevailed and the County lost. 

In 2021, Montgomery County, Maryland, the State's most populous county, enacted an ordinance which severely infringed on rights protected by the Second Amendment. Maryland has a significant set of preemption statutes to prevent local governments from interfering with state law concerning firearms.

Maryland Shall Issue instituted two lawsuits challenging the ordinance in different ways, one in federal court, the other in state court. In December of 2023, the Circuit Court for Montgomery County granted Summary Judgement in favor of the Shall Issue lawsuit in state court. The County appealed the ruling to the Appellate Court of Maryland. On January 24, 2025, the Appellate Court ruled the Circuit Court had erred and remanded the case back to the Circuit Court. The case, now named Montgomery County v. Engage Armament, was appealed by Maryland Shall Issue to the Maryland Supreme Court.

The X.com post by Maryland Shall Issue on 28 April, 2026, explaining the ruling at the Maryland Supreme Court, quotes the Maryland Supreme Court about the County ordinance. The Supreme Court wrote this:

 "is not a local law because of its application to holders of State-issued wear-and-carry permits traveling on public highways who cross within 100 yards of a place of public assembly."

Because such part of the law is not a local law, it is prohibited by the Maryland preemption statutes.

The "local ordinance" banning concealed carry within 100 yards of a "place of public assembly" essentially banned concealed carry. 

Most major roads and highways transited through areas withing 100 yards of the multitude of places the County ordinance designated as places of public assembly.

Maryland shall Issue also posted that the Maryland Supreme Court ruled Montgomery County's ban on "ghost guns" was preempted by Maryland law  "to the extent it includes firearms that have been serialized in compliance with federal and State law." Therefore owners of "ghost guns" can transport unserialized personally made frames and receivers to Federal Firearms License holders (FFL), and the FFL holders can serialize them as required by Maryland State Law. 

The Maryland Supreme Court was reported to have ruled a section of the County's ordinance was preempted, as the County attempted to ban a: 

 "broad swath of otherwise lawful (and constitutionally protected) conduct by adults merely because it occurs in the presence of a minor, without any apparent connection to whether that activity might result in minors gaining unsupervised access to those firearms." 

Exactly what parts of the Montgomery County ordinance remain in effect after the Maryland Supreme Court ruling is not clear at this time. 

In the federal case challenging the ordinance, the case was set for oral arguments on January 23, 2024. On  December 5, 2023, the January 23 date was continued. No future date appears to have been set in the more than two years following. 

 

©2026 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
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