This month, court decisions in two states struck down gun control laws pushed by Democrats in Maryland and Oregon.
Last week, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that a law in Maryland that took effect in 2013 is unconstitutional, according to The Washington Post. The law required handgun buyers who already went through background checks and waiting periods to obtain an additional “handgun qualification license” and wait up to 30 days to have it approved.
Reportedly, this provision was meant to deal with “straw purchasers” who bought guns on behalf of those who would not qualify to buy one (via WaPo):
The 4th Circuit judges said in their opinion Tuesday that the prospect of waiting 30 days for a permit abridged gun buyers’ right to keep and bear arms. More than 315,700 permits have been issued by the Maryland State Police since the law took effect, the agency said Tuesday.
“The law’s waiting period could well be the critical time in which the applicant expects to face danger,” the appeals court stated.
[...]
“This makes it very clear that the state can’t erect obstacles,” said Mark Pennak, president of Maryland Shall Issue and one of the plaintiffs who first challenged the gun licensing law in 2013. “The right to keep and bear arms necessitates the ability to acquire them. You cannot keep and bear that which you cannot acquire
In Oregon, an extreme gun control measure that Townhall previously reported on was dealt a major setback. The Associated Press reported that the law, which was enacted by voters in the 2022 election, violates the state constitution. The law required background checks and mandatory training to obtain a gun permit and banned “high-capacity magazines” (via AP):
Measure 114 has been tied up in state and federal court since it was narrowly approved by voters last November.
The state trial stemmed from a lawsuit filed by gunowners claiming the law violated the right to bear arms under the Oregon Constitution.
The defendants include such Oregon officials as Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and State Police Superintendent Casey Codding. They can appeal to the Oregon Court of Appeals and the case could ultimately go to the Oregon Supreme Court.
Rosenblum plans to appeal the ruling, her office said in an emailed statement.
“The Harney County judge’s ruling is wrong,” the statement said. “Worse, it needlessly puts Oregonians’ lives at risk. The state will file an appeal and we believe we will prevail.”
One of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, Tyler Smith, welcomed the ruling.
“We hope the Attorney General’s office will realize that the ill-conceived and unconstitutional ballot measure should not be defended,” he said in an email.
This month, a record number of voters in an NBC poll, 52 percent, said that they or someone in their household owns a gun.
According to the write-up, in 2019, 46 percent of Americans said that they or someone in their household owned a gun, per an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. In February 2013, that share was even less, at 42 percent.
"In the last ten years, we've grown [10 points] in gun ownership. That's a very stunning number," Micah Roberts of Public Opinion Strategies, a Republican polling firm that co-conducted the poll with members of the Democratic polling firm Hart Research, said.
"By and large, things don't change that dramatically that quickly when it comes to something as fundamental as whether you own a gun," Roberts added.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member