SCOTUS Petition Filed: Kill Maryland's 'Sensitive Places' Scam

Maryland's politicians are smart enough to know they lost in *Bruen*. They're also cynical enough not to care.

After the Supreme Court torched the 'good reason' requirement in 2022, Annapolis didn't comply—it maneuvered. Lawmakers carpet-bombed the state with 'sensitive place' designations: stadiums, transit systems, parks, restaurants that serve alcohol, and dozens of other locations woven into ordinary daily life. The carry permit survived on paper. In practice, it evaporates the moment you leave your driveway.

**That's not a permit system. That's a decoy.**

The Second Amendment Foundation and Firearms Policy Coalition have now petitioned the Supreme Court to take up *Novotny v. Moore*—and to slam the door on this workaround before other states finish welding it into their own gun laws. Because the copying has already started. Blue-state legislatures from coast to coast have been watching Maryland's playbook and taking notes.

Lower courts haven't helped. Since *Bruen*, the circuit courts have slow-walked 2A cases, generated conflicting rulings, and given anti-gun states exactly what they wanted: time. SAF and FPC aren't handing the Fourth Circuit another opportunity to run out the clock. They're going straight to the top.

A SCOTUS grant in *Novotny* would do what no circuit ruling can: set a binding national standard on sensitive-place restrictions that closes the escape hatch for good.

**Governor Wes Moore signed these laws knowing they were constitutionally suspect.** The goal was never to comply with *Bruen*—it was to bury it under paperwork, geography, and delay. Every month a law-abiding Maryland gun owner can't carry is scored as a win by the gun-control lobby bankrolling the politicians who drafted this scheme.

The Second Amendment does not have a carve-out for grocery stores, bus stops, or a restaurant that happens to pour beer. Maryland is betting SCOTUS won't grant cert and the status quo holds. SAF and FPC are betting the Court is watching the pattern—and that nine Justices can see a shell game as clearly as anyone else.

Your rights are the stakes either way.

Watch *Novotny v. Moore* on the SCOTUS docket. If you're in Maryland, get behind SAF or FPC now—the lawyers fighting this case are the only thing standing between your carry permit and the paper it's printed on.