Synagogue Wins Battle Against Blue County To Use Guns For Protection

A federal judge ordered Montgomery County, Maryland, to allow a synagogue to permit attendees to carry concealed firearms Thursday.

Democratic Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich signed Bill 23-26 into law July 27, updating the county’s ordinances in response to an April 28 ruling by the state Supreme Court that struck down some of the jurisdiction’s previous measures regarding carrying firearms. Senior United States District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow of the District of Maryland, a Clinton appointee, issued the ruling Thursday in a case brought by the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) against the D.C.-area county over its “sensitive places ban,” which is also being challenged by the Justice Department (DOJ).

“The sources on which Defendants rely do not demonstrate that the historical analogues for firearm restrictions in places of worship were well-accepted,” Chasanow wrote in the 72-page opinion.

Chasanow took note of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Wolford v. Lopez, which invalidated a Hawaii law containing multiple provisions restricting the carrying of firearms. Montgomery County’s law, similar to Hawaii’s and a law passed in Maryland, were enacted in response to the high court’s June 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, which ruled New York’s “may issue” regime for concealed carry permits unconstitutional on Second Amendment grounds.

The DOJ warned Montgomery County that its legislation could leave worshipers defenseless against an attack before it filed its lawsuit.

“History teaches us that houses of worship are vulnerable to armed attacks and congregants are particularly in need of the ability to defend themselves,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights R. Jonas Geissler wrote in the July 30 letter emailed to top county officials. “By disarming religious congregants during worship, Montgomery County infringes on such congregants’ ability to defend against such attacks.”

Churches and other places of worship have been attacked several times over the years, including in 2015, when a shooter killed nine people in a Charleston, South Carolina, church. A Mormon church was attacked in Grand Blanc, Michigan, in September 2025, while a San Diego mosque was targeted in May and the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh was struck by a mass shooter in October 2018.

Armed security guards at a West Bloomfield, Michigan, synagogue thwarted a Lebanese migrant who drove a truck into the building in March, saving the lives of children and staff.

In December 2019, an armed parishioner in Texas fatally shot a shotgun-wielding assailant who opened fire in a church, killing a member of the armed security team and a deacon.