A federal judge has granted an injunction against Montgomery County, Maryland’s prohibition on concealed carry in houses of worship, according to the source. The ruling, issued Thursday by U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow, applies to the plaintiffs who challenged the ban, including Rabbi J. Menashe Shapiro and members of the Silver Spring Jewish Center (SSJC), the source reports.
What the judge blocked—and what she didn’t
The source states the injunction allows Rabbi Shapiro and other SSJC members to lawfully carry on synagogue premises. However, Judge Chasanow declined to extend relief to the county’s 100-yard “buffer zones” around other designated sensitive places, according to the source.
Per the source’s account of the ruling, the plaintiffs brought a facial challenge to the buffer-zone provisions, which would require showing the law is unconstitutional in all applications. The source adds that Judge Chasanow pointed to buffer zones around schools as a potential instance where a “no-gun” area could be upheld, while declining broader relief.
County’s history argument fell short for worship ban
According to the source, Montgomery County presented 15 historical laws from 1870 to 1901 restricting carry in churches and other worship sites. The source reports that Judge Chasanow found many of these were outliers (including territorial laws) and not from the founding era. The source further quotes the judge as stating that “even if laws enacted at (or after) the time of the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) can alone supply the necessary validation, the effort fails here.”
The source also reports that the judge noted there were 37 states and 11 territories at ratification, growing to 45 states by 1901, yet the county’s examples came from just four states and two territories—insufficient, in her view, to establish a national tradition supporting a worship carry ban.
Practical impact and what’s next
In his complaint, Rabbi Shapiro noted he must pass multiple schools and public parks—and their buffer zones—on his walk to synagogue, the source reports. Because the court left those buffer zones in place, the source suggests the on-site relief may be limited to the synagogue premises for now.
The source also reports that the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a separate lawsuit challenging several of the county’s “gun-free zones,” indicating additional litigation is pending.
Separately, the source’s author argues that while the Supreme Court has signaled school carry bans may be permissible, it has not addressed “buffer zones,” and notes the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act includes exceptions for state-licensed carriers. That analysis is presented as the source author’s view, not as a judicial finding.
