Federal Judge Rules Maryland Gun Permit Law Unconstitutional BALTIMORE - A federal judge has ruled that Maryland's handgun permit law is unconstitutional. In an opinion filed Monday, U.S. District Judge Benson Everett Legg says a requirement that residents show a "good and substantial reason" to carry a handgun infringes their Second Amendment right to bear arms. He says it isn't sufficiently tailored to the state's public safety interests. Plaintiff Raymond Woollard was denied a renewal of his permit in 2009 because he could not show he had been subject to "threats occurring beyond his residence." Woollard obtained the permit after fighting with an intruder in his Hampstead home in 2002. The lawsuit, which names the state police superintendent and members of the Handgun Permit Review Board, was also filed on behalf of the Bellevue, Wash.-based Second Amendment Foundation.