Engage Armament v. Montgomery Cnty.
Court of Appeals of Maryland · No. 9/25
🤝Mixed outcome
invalidated significant parts of the county ordinance while upholding others and rejecting the takings claim
GunMapUSA assessment of the outcome's direction, not a statement that the court decided rightly or wrongly.
What the court held
Two firearms businesses and eight individuals challenged Montgomery County's 2021 and 2022 amendments to its firearms ordinance as preempted by Maryland law, as a general rather than local law, and as a taking. The Supreme Court of Maryland held that Criminal Law section 4-209(b)(1) still authorizes charter counties to regulate firearms as to minors and within 100 yards of places of public assembly, and upheld the County's regulation of parks, places of worship, schools, libraries, courthouses, and similar locations, while holding the County exceeded that authority as to hospitals, health centers, childcare facilities, government buildings, and untethered "gatherings," and that its ghost-gun definition conflicts with state law as to serialized firearms. It also held the 100-yard possession ban is not a valid local law insofar as it reaches state permit holders traveling public highways, and rejected the takings claim.
Summarized from the court's opinion.
What this case is about
local firearm regulation and state preemption of county gun ordinances
GunMapUSA summary of the issue, not a quotation from the court.
Key Dates
- 2026-04-28 — Decided
Sources
- CourtListener — retrieved 2026-08-08
Summary of public court records. Not legal advice.