Houses of worship are often targeted by people with murder on their minds. That’s especially true of synagogues, which were disproportionately attacked even before October 7 and have since been on the receiving end of the “antizionist” reframing of hatred of Jews. But in Montgomery County, Maryland, officials recently renewed efforts to forbid the carrying of firearms within 100 yards of “places of public assembly,” including churches and synagogues. Now, some security volunteers are defying the intrusive law as they await the outcome of courtroom pushback against the restrictions.
“Today, the Justice Department filed suit against Montgomery County, Maryland (County). The complaint alleges that the County’s newly enacted Bill 23-26 violates the Second Amendment by prohibiting law-abiding citizens from possessing firearms in daily life,” the U.S. Department of Justice announced on August 3. “Bill 23-26 prohibits carrying firearms at thousands of locations, and also creates an arbitrary 100-yard exclusion zone around each location. The law applies even if the person carrying a firearm is duly licensed and has the express consent of the property owner.”
Separately, on behalf of the Silver Spring Jewish Center and along with Rabbi J. Menashe Shapiro, the New Civil Liberties Alliance is suing Montgomery County. That lawsuit contends the law “violates the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion by prohibiting synagogue members from acting according to their beliefs. It also violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause by making decisions in place of religious leaders. The law denies the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, and deprives the Jewish community and others of equal protection under the law by discriminating on the basis of religion, a Fourteenth Amendment violation.”
— JD Tuccille in Maryland Synagogue Challenges Restrictive Gun Law