Judge Tosses DOJ Suit Over Montgomery County Carry Zones on Technicality

A federal judge just torpedoed the DOJ's attempt to knock down Montgomery County, Maryland's carry restrictions, tossing the lawsuit entirely rather than ruling on whether the underlying law violates the Second Amendment.

Snapshot

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang dismissed the Justice Department's challenge to Montgomery County's Bill 23-26E, which bars carrying within 100 yards of places like parks, schools, and houses of worship. Rather than weighing the ordinance against Second Amendment precedent, Chuang ruled the DOJ simply lacked legal authority to sue under the statute it used.

Key points

• Wrong tool, case dismissed: Chuang found the DOJ can't use 34 U.S.C. Section 12601, a statute meant for patterns of unconstitutional police conduct, to challenge a law before it's ever been enforced.
• No enforcement, no case: The judge noted DOJ never pointed to actual arrests, citations, or a history of enforcement under the county's ordinance or its predecessors.
• "Breathtakingly broad" overreach: Chuang warned that letting DOJ sue over any law it dislikes under this statute would hand the federal government sweeping power over state and local policy far beyond gun control.
• Dismissed with prejudice: The county's win is procedural but final for this suit, as Bearing Arms reports Chuang explicitly declined to rule on the ordinance's constitutionality under Bruen.
• Bigger fights still pending: Separate Second Amendment lawsuits against the county continue, and the Supreme Court may take up Novotny v. Moore, a challenge to Maryland's gun-free zones that could still reach Montgomery County's rules.

Quick take

This is a loss on paper for the Trump DOJ's gun-law litigation strategy, and Bearing Arms notes Chuang has essentially handed other judges a blueprint to dismiss similar Section 12601 suits. But the county's carry restrictions haven't been vindicated on the merits, they've just survived one flawed legal attack while other challenges keep coming.

Read the full story: bearingarms.com