Supreme Court Decides Not To Hear Carry Case

The US Supreme Court today denied certiorari to Raymond Woollard in his challenge to the state of Maryland's "good and substantial reason" requirement for a carry permit. While he had won at the District Court stage in a surprising decision, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Maryland's favor on their appeal using intermediate scrutiny.

From the Baltimore Sun summation of the chronology of events:

Among the subsequent cases was the challenge to the Maryland permit law, originally brought by Raymond Woollard. The Baltimore County resident had twice been given a handgun permit after his son-in-law broke into his home on Christmas Eve 2002. But when Woollard applied to renew the permit in 2009, state police decided the threat against him had passed and declined the application.

Woollard sued over the denial of his application and a federal district judge struck down the permitting law last year. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision, ruling that the law is reasonably adapted" to the state's "significant interests in protecting public safety and preventing crime."

In asking the Supreme Court to have the final say, Woollard's lawyers said the issues at stake were broad and involved questions that were not spelled out in the Heller ruling.

The appeals court that upheld Maryland's law found that "the Second Amendment has no practical impact beyond the threshold of one's home," attorney Alan Gura wrote in a court filing.

But he said other federal courts have reached different conclusions, including a ruling from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that "asserts that the right is equally important outside the home as inside, and should (subject to regulation) be generally accessible to law-abiding individuals."

Gura urged the Supreme Court to sort out the issue once and for all.

Maryland's lawyers argued in court filings in response that the case was a simple question of the appropriate state regulation of firearms and did not warrant a look by the high court.

Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler, who is now running for governor of the state with a running mate who describes herself as "Trayvon Martin's Mom", was pleased with the decision of the Supreme Court saying it would make Maryland a safer place.

In related news from little more than a month ago, Kris Lee Abbott was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after he had attacked his parents and his estranged wife. Abbott was the son-in-law of Raymond Woollard whose attack led to Maryland initially issuing a carry permit to Woollard.

I quite agree with Bitter's comment on the denial of cert.

The fact that the Supreme Court is completely unwilling to protect your right to actually bear the arms instead of just keeping them should motivate gun owners to get involved in the political fights. It is absolutely clear that you cannot count on the courts, and elections have consequences.

One need look no further than the potential Democratic nominee for governor and his running mate in Maryland. I doubt you could get two more anti-gun politicians on a ticket together unless you found a way to pair Michael Bloomberg with Dianne Feitnstein.