4th Circuit Reaffirms That The 2A
Does Not End at the Storefront Door

While the U.S. Supreme Court was hearing oral arguments in Wolford v. Lopez, a challenge to Hawaii's carry restrictions, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit struck down Maryland's attempt to impose a sweeping "default ban" on lawful concealed carry on private property open to the public.

The case, Kipke v. Moore, is an NRA-supported case challenging Maryland's sweeping carry restrictions enacted as part of the Gun Safety Act of 2023.

Part of the ruling is an important reaffirmation that the Second Amendment is not a second-class right, as the Fourth Circuit struck down Maryland's "vampire rule." But, as NRA-ILA reported, "the court upheld Maryland's prohibitions on carrying firearms in state parks, state forests, government buildings, museums, public transportation, healthcare facilities, school grounds, stadiums, racetracks, amusement parks, casinos, locations that sell alcohol, and within 1,000 feet of a public demonstration."

As in New York and a handful of other states, in response to the NRA's landmark Supreme Court victory in NYSRPA v. Bruen, which affirmed the right of all Americans to carry firearms in public, Maryland prohibited firearms in numerous locations it deemed "sensitive places." The state also banned carrying firearms on private property held open to the public without the owner's express permission—a regulation commonly known as the "vampire rule," referencing the literary notion that vampires must obtain an owner's consent before entering a building.

Like Hawaii's, Maryland's law presumed that carrying a firearm on any private property open to the public—such as retail stores, restaurants or other businesses—was illegal unless the owner gave explicit permission. …