Gun control laws in states and cities are under attack as the U.S. Supreme Court hears a case involving Chicago’s handgun ban.
An overturn of the ban, according to some on both sides of the gun divide, would embolden gun owners — particularly in Maryland, where registration and carry laws are routinely cited as overly restrictive — to challenge current gun regulations.
In 2008, the Supreme Court overturned the District of Columbia’s handgun ban, but the decision applied only to the federal government and federal enclaves, such as the District, and did not specify whether states and cities fell under the umbrella of the Second Amendment.
Calling it a “pivotal day” for gun-rights advocates, National Rifle Association spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said, “We’ve always believed that the Second Amendment is not exclusive to those people who live in federal enclaves.”
In a bit of Supreme Court foreshadowing, a Maryland appeals court last year ruled the Second Amendment does not affect the state’s restriction on handgun use. Under state law, a person can’t “wear, carry or transport” handguns without a permit.
Judge Albert Matricciani wrote that even if the Second Amendment were applied to state law, it would not affect handgun restrictions because of stateprovisions allowing the weapons inside homes.
And even some of the state’s strongest gun backers doubt the reach of the Supreme Court’s decision.
“I don’t see any immediate impact on Maryland at the current time,” said Richard Kussman, president of the Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Association.
Without an outright gun ban, he said local governments likely would hedge behind language that allows handguns in limited circumstances.
Since the repeal of the District’s ban, a debate has raged about the effect on violent crime.
Last year — without a ban — murders in Washington dropped 25 percent to 140, and the Washington suburbs experienced a similar decrease.
Saying the case would not affect “much outside Chicago,” Daniel Vice, senior lawyer at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, added “it will embolden gun criminals and the gun lobby to challenge common-sense regulations.”
