The Office of the Attorney General filed petition for a rehearing en banc in the case of Maryland Shall Issue v. Wes Moore, in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled unconstitutional Maryland’s law requiring most citizens to obtain a license before acquiring a handgun.
On November 21, 2023, a divided three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that Maryland’s law violated the Second Amendment. Attorney General Brown is asking for a rehearing of the case en banc, which means that the case would be heard again before the full 15-judge appellate court.
“The Second Amendment does not prohibit states from enacting common-sense gun laws like Maryland’s handgun licensing law,” said Attorney General Brown. “My office will continue to defend laws that are designed to protect Marylanders from gun violence.”
