(GunReports.com) — Maryland can continue enforcing its gun-permit law requiring residents to show a “good and substantial reason” to carry handguns until a federal appeals court decides the matter, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond has ruled.
The court also directed the case to be expedited, tentatively scheduling arguments during a session set for Oct. 23-26.
The case stems from a Hampstead man who sought a permit after fighting with an intruder in his home in 2002. Plaintiff Raymond Woollard obtained a handgun permit after the incident, but he was denied a renewal in 2009 because he could not show he had been subject to “threats occurring beyond his residence.”
Woollard appealed, but his appeal was rejected by the review board, which found he had not demonstrated a “good and substantial reason” to carry a handgun as a reasonable precaution.
The Second Amendment Foundation, which brought the case in 2010, contended the state did not have a reason to deny the renewal and wrongly put the burden on Woollard to show why he still needed to carry a gun.
