A federal appeals court has struck down a Maryland law requiring people to obtain a special license before purchasing a handgun. Judges on the 4th U.S.
A federal appeals court on Tuesday struck down Maryland’s handgun licensing law, finding that its requirements, which include submitting fingerprints for a background check and taking a four-hour firearms safety course, are unconstitutionally restrictive.
In a 2-1 ruling, judges on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond said they considered the case in light of a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that “effected a sea change in Second Amendment law.”
The underlying lawsuit was filed in 2016 as a challenge to a Maryland law requiring people to obtain a special license before purchasing a handgun. The law, which was passed in 2013 in the aftermath of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, laid out a series of necessary steps for would-be gun purchasers: completing four hours of safety training that includes firing one live round, submitting fingerprints and passing a background check, being 21 and residing in Maryland.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, said he was disappointed in the circuit court’s ruling and will “continue to fight for this law.” He said his administration is reviewing the ruling and considering its options.
Why is that a bit much? You should have to know how to properly use and store a deadly weapon, shouldn't you? There is no way to be a responsible gun owner without education.
To purchase a lethal weapon, fingerprints for a background check and a four hour training course is too much? I’m pretty sure a commercial pilot license requires more than 4 hours of training.
Yeah... No. It's meant for both. You do know we had slavery (and still do) in the constitution, right? It's restricted a ton of people's rights. That said, the 9th amendment should protect most. The 2nd amendment does not apply anymore, since we don't require conscripted militias to protect the nation while we have a standing professional army.
Im all for gun rights, but it has to have reasonable limits. Firing one round is honestly not enough in my opinion. You should have to prove competency with firing and maintaining your firearm, as well as proper safe methods for storing and transporting it.
The earliest hand gun licensing systems weren't implemented until the just before the Civil War in the South (for the exact reasons you'd think the South would do that).
True. Before that you needed to have a certain job. Purposive open carry laws. The other gun law at the time was breach of peace, which is what you'd have been charged with for open carrying. The idea that guns cannot be regulated is a modern invention by people who want Americans to kill each other, and who don't give a fuck about rights.
What other right do we put behind fingerprinting and coursework. Do you lose your right to remain silent if you don't take a fucking course? No, the federal courts are bringing this right in line with the others.
Exercising your first amendment rights doesn't kill in most instances. In instances that it can, such as inciting violence, it stops being protected speech
Exactly. If you murder someone, you will also not be protected by the right to keep and bear arms. In general, instigating harm against others is never covered by rights.
Yet we don't license speech on the grounds that inciting violence isn't protected.
Owning guns does not guarantee gun violence. Most of the time it seems to be gross negligence.
We license people to drive, yet look at how many bad drivers there are.
This is a callous stance, but I think the left needs to shut the fuck up about guns. All it does is galvanize the right wing and drive them straight to the polls. Gun regulation does not win elections and there are so many more pressing problems. Fact of the matter is gun violence, while tragic, statistically isn't something worthy of losing elections over. Climate change, education, healthcare, all are higher stakes issues with far more lives at risk.
Edit: down vote all you want, the elections will still be lost and the supreme court will continue to be irreparably stacked against you. I don't know how much more evidence you need that the left needs tactics, guile, and strategy. The Right is playing chess while the left is making a sandwich. They aren't even playing the same game.
Maybe if we still had a more militia like system we wouldn't be engaged in an eternal state of war in countries across the globe. The Founding Father's critiques of standing armies were made because they didn't want to become what they overthrew.
The Constitution is not a sacrosanct document, we’ve major changes before, including repealing amendments. We shouldn’t be afraid of changing it if it’s doing more harm than good. The President and Vice President are elected differently now, the 3/5ths compromise was repealed by the 14th Amendment, and 18th Amendment, enacting Prohibition, was struck down by the 21st.
The second amendment also doesn't create a well regulated militia.
What use is a militia of morbidly obese men who can't even demonstrate basic firearm safety, whose entire contribution is "have gun"?
I don't know why we're suppose to politely play along with the hero fantasies of people who wouldn't even wear masks in a pandemic but insist they'd lay down their lives to liberate people from the fascists that they enthusiastically voted for.
Voting isn't actually a constitutional right like owning firearms is. There are protections about equality when it comes to voting, but not much about voting itself. States are generally given the right to decide who can vote and how they vote.
Yeah. It's too bad we are stuck with this albatross of 2A making it impossible to put reasonable restrictions on gun ownership. Clearly that was a mistake.
But the right to bear arms is in no way in line with the others. Freedom of speech makes sense. Equal treatment of all citizens by the government does also. The right to play with guns is in no way comparable to this.
Please answer me this: why should you have the right to play with guns, with few if any restrictions, when it is clear that everyone having such a right directly leads to death? Why is your right to have fun more important than other peoples' lives?
Edit: Why is it that no one can justify why they should have guns?? Did you trade your balls in to buy your gun?
People need to realize that the 2A is simply obsolete. It's irrelevant talking about original intention when that is totally irrelevant to the modern world. It's an inevitability that the 2A goes away. The only question is how it removed.