U.S. appeals court hears Maryland gun law challenge

On a roll in recent years, a gun-rights group pressed its advantage in a federal appeals court Wednesday, seeking to extend Second Amendment rights through a challenge to Maryland's handgun permit laws. "We're not challenging the constitutionality of having a licensing system," Alan Gura, a lawyer for the Second Amendment Foundation, told the three-judge panel in a case involving a Baltimore County man's permit renewal. Rather, he argued that Maryland unnecessarily restricts the right to carry firearms. Gura said the issue is a narrow one, but much of the argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit revolved around how to apply recent Supreme Court decisions to the public carrying of firearms, which could have far-reaching implications. In two other cases Gura won, the high court struck down Illinois and District of Columbia laws that effectively outlawed handgun ownership. But the court did not directly address the right to bear arms for self-defense outside the home. The Maryland case offers gun-rights advocates a chance to win a broader reading of the Second Amendment, upending the state's handgun permit process along the way. Under state law, Marylanders must show "good and substantial reason" to obtain a handgun permit. In March, a federal district judge struck down that requirement, ruling it unconstitutional. The Maryland attorney general's office, fearing a spike in gun violence, appealed the decision, and the federal court of appeals allowed the law to stand while the case is resolved...more