Federal Judge Rejects Request To Delay New Gun Laws
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A major blow to opponents of Maryland's new gun control laws: a federal judge has denied a request to delay the laws from taking effect.
Vic Carter has more.
Maryland gun control supporters celebrated another victory with a rally in Baltimore Tuesday night.
Gun control opponents who failed to make their case in the State House are continuing their battle in court. Tuesday, a federal judge denied two motions to delay the law from taking effect but gun advocates are moving forward.
"This is not a ruling on the merits of the arguments. The fat lady hasn't sung; she hasn't even taken the stage yet," said Shannon Alford, NRA.
Marylanders To Prevent Gun Violence don't think she stands a chance.
"They're a waste of everybody's time but the good news is, they are not at all interfering with the effectiveness of the law," said Vinny DeMarco.
Governor Martin O'Malley told WJZ Friday he expects the law to withstand the challenge.
"I'm very confident that our bill was enacted properly, that it passes constitutional muster and it's the right thing and the common sense thing to do," he said.
Gun advocates aren't finished yet.
"We now have a framework for how we're going to move forward and how these plaintiffs are going to press their case," Alford said.
The plaintiffs are suing the governor, the attorney general and the state police. They claim the ban on assault-type weapons violates the Second Amendment and that Marylanders are being prevented from buying handguns because the new licensing system is not in place.
State police are still trying to clear a backlog of applications submitted before the new laws took effect.
