Maryland ––(Ammoland.com)- The Maryland State Police appear to be returning applications and checks to those who applied after the Federal Judge temporarily stayed his ruling on April 2nd 2012. The state police provide two options: give up your application; or provide a ‘Good and Substantial’ cause and re-apply.
Maryland Shall Issue views these letters as denials: a completed permit application was denied because you did not provide the state with a ‘Good and Substantial’ cause. The current stay on the courts’ ruling is ‘temporary‘ and designed to give the state time to state their public safety concerns. Rather than hold onto applications, they are denying them. The law allows the state to do this, but denying citizens permits outright during the time the Federal Court gave Maryland to make their case for a stay is just bad faith.
These are certainly options. For those who wish to press their case, Maryland law provides a path for appeal:
a) Treat the application as a denial and appeal to the Maryland Handgun Review Board. You have 10 days from the receipt of the letter to appeal.
OR
b) Resend the application to the Maryland State Police with a letter requesting they process your application according to Maryland Law and consistent with the order of the court.
Either option may result in another denial, especially if the judge issues a permanent stay to the court’s order. If your situation has changed and you can no longer afford the possibility of losing the application fee, please don’t feel obligated to reapply.
Requesting a hearing before the handgun permit review board may keep your application ‘alive‘ through the period of the temporary stay.
Woollard Case Update
This week the State Attorney General will file the opening volley in what should prove an interesting argument on public safety and lawful carriers in Maryland. The state wishes to hold the court’s order pending full appeal to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals – a process that would likely stretch into next year.
The Court gave Maryland some time to make their case and specifically it requested an explanation of how public safety would be negatively impacted by lawful citizens carrying arms in public. We anxiously await the state’s response. In the more than one year this case was argued in the current court, the state could never articulate a reason for concern other than a claim that ‘Bad Things Will Happen’. The state had nothing then, and frankly, they have nothing now.
The last brief of this argument will be submitted on May 26th. We cannot estimate when Judge Legg will make his ruling on the staying motion, but it is very unlikely that a ruling will come before early June. We encourage and are thankful for your patience as the legal process unfolds.
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has released the briefing schedule for Woollard. These are the dates the parties must submit their arguments and rebuttals.
- Appendix due: 05/29/2012
- Opening brief due: 05/29/2012
- Response brief due: 07/02/2012
- Reply 14 days later
MSI will provide these documents on our website as they become avaliable.
Outreach Opportunity
Maryland Shall Issue will have a booth at the Towson Town Spring Festival for the third time in as many years. This festival has been a popular one for MSI. Thousands of people will visit from all over the Baltimore area and MSI will be there to spread its message. We need volunteers to help attend the booth. The event times and dates are as follows:
- May 5th: 10am-7pm
- May 6th: 12pm-7pm
Volunteers are asked to commit to at least two hours but are welcome to stay longer. No prior experience is required; we will provide training materials.
To volunteer, simply reply to this e-mail with the time(s) that you would like to work.
New Item in MSI Store
Maryland Shall Issue is proud to offer a new item in our store – embroidered ball caps. The blue hats are a throwback to MSI’s beginnings. Our founding members were initially recognized within the halls of the legislative office buildings as “those guys in the blue hats.” You’ll notice on the back of the hat is a new web address, bluehats.org. This URL will link directly to marylandshallissue.org and is easier for passersby to remember. We hope that these hats will help spark discussion with people who have never heard of Maryland Shall Issue® and help spread our message. We look forward to seeing a sea of blue at the Towson Town Spring Festival.
Fundraising / Special Projects
MSI is working hard on a special project to be unveiled soon, and at least one special event. Some things take longer to bake than others. We wish we could say more right now, but that would ruin all the fun.
None of this is possible without your support, and we thank you for your recent contributions. They are going to help our entire community.
Maryland Shall Issue, Inc.1332 Cape Saint Claire Road #342
Annapolis, Maryland 21409
240-446-6782
About Maryland Shall Issue
Maryland Shall Issue is an all-volunteer, non-partisan effort dedicated to the preservation and advancement of all gunowners’ rights in Maryland, with a primary goal of CCW reform to allow all law-abiding citizens the right to carry a concealed weapon; and to the education of the community to the awareness that ‘shall issue’ laws have, in all cases, resulting in decreased rates of violent crime.
