“’A citizen may not be required to offer a ‘good and substantial reason’ why he should be permitted to exercise his rights,’ (U.S. District Court Judge Benson) Legg wrote. ‘The right’s existence is all the reason he needs.’” Sure, we hold this truth to be self evident, but not everyone does. At least they didn’t in Maryland until Judge Legg ruled that Marylanders can have a license to carry a gun without demonstrating “need.” But after the ruling was handed down back in March, the Judge stayed implementation to let Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler argue how many angels can dance on the head of a pin what the meaning of a right is . . .
But the AG was apparently unpersuasive. Darn the luck. From baltimoresun.com:
But in an eight-page memorandum signed Monday, Legg determined that there was no basis for a stay and issued an order dissolving the temporary delay effective 14 days later.
A spokesman for the Maryland attorney general’s office declined to comment on the ruling Tuesday afternoon, and an attorney for the plaintiff in the case, Raymond Woollard, could not immediately be reached.
Woollard, who lives in Baltimore County, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court after he was denied a renewal for his gun-carry permit. Woollard received his first permit in 2003, after his son-in-law broke into his home one Christmas Eve and terrorized the family, according to court records. It was renewed in 2006, but denied three years later, because Woollard couldn’t show a continuing threat.
While the state police superintendent (he’s the one tasked with pronouncing pass or fail on carry permits) only turned down about 5% of the applications he received last year, most that got a thumbs down verdict were because the applicant didn’t show a ‘good and substantial reason’. We’re sure the superintendent will find something productive to do with all the extra time he’ll now have.
So look for usacarry.org to change the color of the Old Line State on its map from the sickly may-issue shade of what Crayola used to call ‘flesh tone’ to a much healthier shall-issue blue. Jump on in crab cake fans, the water’s fine.