Trump administration sues Montgomery County over gun law

The U.S. Department of Justice sued Montgomery County over a local gun law signed last week that the Trump administration alleges violates the Second Amendment.

Filed Monday in U.S. District Court for Maryland, the lawsuit followed similar complaints from local gun rights organization Maryland Shall Issue as well as the Silver Spring Jewish Center. All of the legal challenges focus on the law’s ban on carrying arms in places of public assembly and a 100-yard buffer zone around those areas, which the Justice Department argues “makes it almost impossible for a citizen to walk through town to shop, to dine, or engage in any other common activity of daily life” with a gun and not become “a criminal without ever intending to do so.”

The law’s “sweeping prohibitions effectively prevent carrying of firearms throughout much of the County without a legitimate purpose,” the Justice Department alleges, claiming that the “exclusion zone” makes up more than 26% of the county.

A county spokesperson declined to respond to the lawsuit, saying that it does not comment on pending litigation.

Signed last week by Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, the law bans the sale, transfer, possession or transport of “a ghost gun, undetectable gun, handgun, rifle, or shotgun,” as well as ammunition and components, within the buffer zones. It defines places of public assembly as government buildings as well as public and private schools, places of worship, parks and other locations.

The law was passed in an effort to comply with a complicated Maryland Supreme Court decision that found the county had overstepped in multiple ways with previous firearms legislation.

The Justice Department is seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the county’s police department and sheriff from enforcing the legislation.

“The Second Amendment does not allow local governments to ban law-abiding citizens from carrying firearms in public places as they go about their daily lives,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement. “Montgomery County makes it almost impossible for a law-abiding citizen with a valid carry license to walk down the street and avoid these exclusion zones.”