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Md. concealed-carry permit requirements reinstated pending appeal

Marylanders hoping to apply for a concealed-carry handgun permit without providing a “good and substantial reason” will have to wait until a federal court can decide this fall whether the state’s law is unconstitutional.

The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that while the state waits for a final court ruling on the issue, it can continue enforcing its current law, requiring permit applicants to provide documentation that they need to carry a gun for work use or they face a specific threat.

Wednesday’s ruling reverses one issued last week by U.S. District Court Judge Benson Everett Legg that would have allowed people to get permits without documentation of threats starting next week. In March, Judge Legg ruled that the state law violated the Second Amendment.

The 4th Circuit’s three-judge panel is scheduled to hear the appeal starting Oct. 23.

“The proceedings have been expedited,” said David Paulson, spokesman for state Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler. “The state will continue to follow and enforce this law as passed by the General Assembly.”

The lawsuit was filed against the state in 2010 by Raymond Woollard, who got a Maryland gun permit in 2003 after an armed altercation inside his home. He was denied renewal in 2009 by Maryland State Police and the state’s Handgun Permit Review Board because he could not provide documents to “verify threats beyond his residence.”