Good News for Maryland Gun Owners
If you listened to Conservative Refuge Radio this week, you heard me share this story about more Marylanders being eligible for and receiving concealed carry gun permits. As the Hagerstown Herald Mail reported:
Tim Gargana, a firearms instructor who works in Hagerstown, said a state procedural change has allowed more people like Lapkoff qualify for a wear-and-carry permit.
Gargana has taken aim at business owners with some advertising that proclaims that “the regulations have changed,” and “most business owners and professionals are now eligible for this permit.”
Under the process, Maryland State Police still must find a “good and substantial reason” to issue a wear-and-carry permit to a person.
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But Gargana said those reasons have been expanded within the past year to include, among other things, business activities, either by the business owner or an employee.
Adding business owners “really widens out the availability” of the license, Gargana said.
These changes in regulations were reported after the Hogan administration was frustrated by the legislature in appointing more pro-gun members to the Handgun Permit Review Board.
Gun owners in Maryland need to also remember that Maryland’s 2013 anti-gun legislation is under review by the entire United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit who decision in the coming months will set the standard by which the lower courts will determine if the Act is unconstitutional. This decision could make further regulation of gun rights more difficult as such regulations would have to survive strict constitutional scrutiny.
The bottom line is this. The Hogan administration, despite a hostile legislature and confining gun control laws still on the books in this state, is taking actions to expand access to concealed carry permits to gun owners. While many in the 2A community want more and, in some cases, have unreasonable expectations of what Hogan can or should do, the facts are that the Hogan administration is moving the ball forward on expanding gun rights and needs the help of more pro-second amendment legislators in the General Assembly.
Editor’s Note: The original article was revised to reflect that the changes in state policy were reported by the Hagerstown Herald Mail after the Governor’s appointment of Richard Jurgena to the Handgun Permit Review Board. The original article also clarified the legal issues pending in Kolbe case, which were detailed in the linked article.
The Editors would also note that this blog has always supported Second Amendment rights and “shall issue” concealed carry permit laws.
