BALTIMORE – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown issued the following statement after the Supreme Court of the United States today declined to hear a challenge of Maryland’s law requiring most residents to obtain a license before purchasing a handgun.
In Maryland, most applicants for handgun qualification licenses are required to submit fingerprints, undergo a background check, and complete a training course, among other requirements. Maryland’s Handgun Qualification Licensing law was enacted in 2013 after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 that resulted in the deaths of 20 children and six adults.
On August 23, 2024, in a 14-2 decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Maryland Shall Issue v. Wes Moore rejected a Second Amendment challenge to a state law requiring a Handgun Qualification License (or HQL) to purchase a handgun. The plaintiffs in that case appealed the decision to the highest court of the land, which today declined to hear the case.
“This is great news for Maryland and common-sense gun laws. This law helps prevent tragedies and keeps families safe, by keeping guns away from those who want to harm our communities,” said Attorney General Brown. “Thoughts and prayers are not enough—Maryland’s Handgun Qualification Licensing Law is a key tool in our fight to end gun violence.”
Attorney Brown,
People that commit gun violence don’t give a rip about your HQL permit requirement, background checks, or firearms laws. They acquire firearms illegally through theft or illegal purchase. Your HQL does nothing but slow down the process for law abiding citizens to protect themselves from those that don’t follow law to begin with.
Not true. School gun violence would decrease because it would be harder for teens to get their hands on guns. Although most can just go to the hall closet. So more work to be done.
Kids and teens that commit violence with firearms fall into the category of people that do not follow law. Safe storage and handling of firearms is a different discussion. I appreciate where you’re coming from but if HQLs stopped issues of firearms in school we wouldn’t see issues of firearms in schools right now, being that the HQL is now required. The HQL has nothing to do with a kid or teen getting their hands on a gun.
So much wasted time, gun laws have zero impact on violent criminals. The guns are always ghost or stolen.