Every time Democrats unveil a new gun control proposal, their message is the same: their bill, if enacted, will save lives. Actually the exact opposite is true.
States have recently rushed to pass new laws in response to a decision the U.S. Supreme Court made last year in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association vs. Bruen.
It held that the Second Amendment prohibits government requiring applicants to prove a "special need" in order to be issued a concealed carry permit.
States that included this requirement are called "may issue" states; others, which comprise the majority, are called "shall issue" states.
Maryland was one of those "may issue" states, and concealed carry applications there soared in response to Bruen.
"The Maryland State Police has received 11 times the usual number of new permit applications since the court struck down state provisions requiring gun owners to demonstrate a special need for carrying a firearm for self-defense," The Washington Post reported.
However, to paraphrase a verse in the Book of Job: "the government giveth, the government taketh away."
Many "may issue" jurisdictions, including Maryland, scrambled to change their concealed carry laws to comply with Bruen, while still limiting the right to carry, despite the plain language of the Second Amendment that states "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
So while newly-elected Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, eased restrictions to obtain a permit, he simultaneously tightened them — by limiting the places where one may carry.
"Gun violence is tearing apart the fabric of our communities, not just through mass shootings but through shootings that are happening in each of our communities far too often," Moore said at a bill-signing ceremony. "We will act, and that's exactly what today represents.”
But by signing Maryland’s new law, he only made Baltimore’s “mean streets” even meaner.
In response to the new restrictions, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), a national gun rights organization based in Bellevue, Washington, filed a federal lawsuit.
"The main problem is that it really limits where you can carry your gun," SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb told Newsmax. "They’re trying to imitate and mimic what New York and New Jersey did."
As he observed, "they’ll issue a ticket, but once you have it, it’s not good anyplace." Accordingly, “it puts a chilling effect on obtaining gun permits, What good is a permit if you can’t use it?”
SAF filed a lawsuit challenging a similar New Jersey law, and recently won a preliminary injunction.
"The Constitution leaves the States some measures to combat handgun violence," U.S. District Court Chief Judge Renee Marie Bumb wrote in her 235-page ruling, however, "to ‘prevent law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their right to keep and bear arms.' That is plainly unconstitutional."
A federal district court also struck down New York’s restrictions — But Gottlieb acknowledges Maryland may be a tougher nut to crack “because, quite frankly, they’ve got a pretty good judge from their point of view.”
What’s especially egregious about the new law is that in practice, it applies to only one class of individuals: the law-abiding citizen.
Criminals aren’t hampered by the restrictions — restrictions with which the law-abiding will comply in most cases.
Last year a Greenwood, Indiana mall was the scene where a lawful concealed carry holder did not strictly comply with the law.
Elisjsha "Eli" Dicken carried a firearm while shopping with his girlfriend, unaware that the mall was a no-gun zone.
A gunman entered the same mall, armed with multiple weapons and multiple loaded magazines.
He then walked to the mall’s food court and opened fire.
It came to an abrupt halt 15 seconds later when a Dicken shot and killed the gunman. But had he complied with the "gun-free" zone restriction, the outcome would have been far worse.
"Many more people would have died last night if not for a responsible armed citizen that took action very quickly within the first two minutes of the shooting," said Greenwood police chief James Ison during a press briefing.
The National Rifle Association agreed.
"We will say it again: The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," the NRA said on Twitter.
But Gottlieb concluded that states like Maryland, New York and New Jersey want to remove that element of a "good guy with a gun."
"Now you’re penalizing the permit-holders, and not the criminals," he observed.
As a result, the law “is definitely making Maryland less safe, because it doesn’t stop criminals from misusing guns. It only stops law-abiding people from defending themselves.”
An adage that was popular decades ago went: "when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns."
It’s just as true today as it was then.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.
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