Maryland Shall Issue, Inc. v. Hogan, 566 F.Supp.3d 404

Background:

Plaintiffs (Maryland Shall Issue, Atlantic Guns, and two individual members) challenged Maryland’s Firearm Safety Act of 2013 (FSA) provision requiring a Handgun Qualification License (HQL) as violating the Second Amendment; only the Second Amendment claim remained after the Fourth Circuit remand.
The HQL requires applicants (generally age 21+) to: complete a 4‑hour safety course (including a live‑fire of at least one round), submit livescan fingerprints, pay a $50 application fee, and wait for MSP processing (statute: 30 days); prior 77R registration remained in place.
Plaintiffs contended the HQL is effectively a ban on handgun acquisition, seeks strict scrutiny, and argued the requirements (30‑day delay, fingerprints, live‑fire training, cost) are unnecessary, redundant, or unduly burdensome.
Defendants argued the HQL does not severely burden the core right, intermediate scrutiny applies, and the fingerprinting and training requirements are reasonably tailored to Maryland’s substantial interest in public safety (deterring straw purchases, preventing fraud, improving identification, reducing accidents).
The district court treated the HQL as burdening core Second Amendment conduct but applied intermediate scrutiny, found a reasonable fit between the law and public‑safety interests (relying on legislative findings, expert testimony, and studies), and granted summary judgment for defendants.

Issues:

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the HQL burdens conduct protected by the Second Amendment	HQL conditions make handgun acquisition for self‑defense considerably harder and thus burden core Second Amendment rights	HQL does not deprive law‑abiding citizens of handguns for home defense; it only imposes reasonable conditions	Court: HQL does burden core conduct but not so severely as to bar relief; proceed to scrutiny analysis
Proper level of scrutiny	HQL imposes severe burden on core right → strict scrutiny required	Burden is not severe; intermediate scrutiny appropriate	Court: applied intermediate scrutiny (core implicated but burden not severe)
Whether HQL survives intermediate scrutiny (fit and evidence)	HQL is unnecessary, ineffective, and pretextual; harms not demonstrated; alternatives exist	Maryland’s public‑safety interests are substantial; fingerprinting and training reasonably fit those interests; legislature relied on studies and expert testimony	Court: HQL survives intermediate scrutiny; substantial evidence supports legislature’s predictive judgments
Validity of specific requirements (fingerprints, live training/live‑fire, fees/waiting)	Fingerprints redundant given 77R; live‑fire and fees are burdensome and often impractical (esp. urban residents); many started but did not finish applications	Fingerprints prevent fraud, enable ongoing tracking of disqualifying events, deter straw purchases; live training/live‑fire promotes safety and deters straw purchasers; fees/wait periods are reasonable administrative burdens	Court: each requirement is reasonably related to public safety, the burdens are modest, and requirements are constitutional

Key Cases Cited

District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008) (Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess firearms for self‑defense in the home)
McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742 (2010) (Second Amendment incorporated against the States)
Kolbe v. Hogan, 849 F.3d 114 (4th Cir. 2017) (intermediate scrutiny appropriate where law does not severely burden core right; deference to legislative judgments on public safety)
Hirschfeld v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, 5 F.4th 407 (4th Cir. 2021) (step‑one historical inquiry; courts must consider text, history, and practice and apply means‑end scrutiny where appropriate)
United States v. Chester, 628 F.3d 673 (4th Cir. 2010) (adopts two‑step approach and guidance on level of scrutiny)
Heller v. District of Columbia, 670 F.3d 1244 (D.C. Cir. 2011) (Heller II) (distinguishes regulations that impose conditions from complete bans)
Heller v. District of Columbia, 801 F.3d 264 (D.C. Cir. 2015) (Heller III) (upheld fingerprinting/registration and training requirements under intermediate scrutiny)
Turner Broad. Sys., Inc. v. FCC, 520 U.S. 180 (1997) (courts should accord deference to predictive judgments of legislative bodies under intermediate scrutiny)
Masciandaro v. United States, 638 F.3d 458 (4th Cir. 2011) (caution against judicial overreach in Second Amendment matters)
Woollard v. Gallagher, 712 F.3d 865 (4th Cir. 2013) (intermediate scrutiny applied to burden that does not reach the core right)