Law That Makes Heroes Felons Could End Up In Supreme Court

Multiple pro-Second Amendment groups filed an amicus brief urging the Maryland Supreme Court to hear an appeal of a case involving a D.C. resident arrested for carrying a firearm in Maryland.

Maryland’s gun laws are some of the most stringent in the country. These laws include a blanket refusal to recognize out-of-state permits or to make reciprocity agreements with other states, according to the Maryland State Police. The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), Maryland Shall Issue, National Rifle Association (NRA), California Rifle & Pistol Association (CRPA), Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, Second Amendment Law Center and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) urged the state court to hear the case of Darius Duvall, who was searched after a traffic stop and arrested despite having a concealed carry permit issued by the District of Columbia.

“Travelers from other states were usually allowed to carry their firearms concealed,” the groups argued in their “friend of the court brief. “The historical tradition of these ‘traveler’s exception’ laws is not some outlier, but overwhelming to the point that it justifies this Court summarily reversing the decision below. It is especially relevant here, given the Petitioner was arrested while traveling in a vehicle.”

Democratic Attorney General Anthony Brown’s office declined to comment when reached by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The gun-rights groups argued that recent Supreme Court decisions in Wolford v. Lopez and Hemani v. United States warranted a new look at the case.

“Interstate visitors are Americans, yet states like Maryland treat them as suspect foreigners that need to be re-vetted before exercising a fundamental right. As this brief will concisely show, our historical tradition demands exactly the opposite,” the gun rights groups said. “Several of the Amici joined a lengthier brief in the United States Supreme Court in support of certiorari on this very issue. While neither this Court nor the Supreme Court granted review in that matter, the recent decisions in Wolford and Hemani counsel certiorari in this case.”

The groups also cited litigation in Hawaii that listed dozens of state laws that historically gave travelers greater leeway in carrying concealed firearms.

“We’re going to keep up the pressure,” SAF Director of Legal Research and Education Konstadinos Moros told the DCNF, adding, “It’s not that we’re confident that any petition will necessarily be granted, but we’re just going to keep banging on that door in hopes that they do.”