MARYLAND COURT SMACKDOWN OF ILLEGAL SEARCH APPLAUDED BY CCRKBA

BELLEVUE, WA – A ruling by the Appellate Court of Maryland in the case of a man who was stopped by police initially for carrying a gun in public because the gun was allegedly “printing,” is being cited by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms as another step toward placing more limits on government’s ability to interfere with the right to bear arms protected by the Second Amendment.

The case involved a man named Steven Hicks, who was stopped by a Baltimore police detective who claimed he saw Hicks’ gun “physically printing” through Hicks’ shirt. What followed was a search of Hicks which, the court ruled, violated his Fourth Amendment Rights. Hicks was licensed to carry with no restrictions.

“The Hicks ruling is a wake-up call to Maryland police they can no longer treat a constitutional right like a regulated privilege,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “As the court opinion noted, the subsequent search of Hicks and a satchel he was carrying was unconstitutional.”

As noted by the Appeals Court, “The case was presented…as a stop justified solely on the possession of a gun, and it was presented in the briefs on appeal the same way. That is the argument that we have addressed, and it is the basis for our conclusion that the stop was unconstitutional.”

“The police must have reasonable suspicion that the person is possessing the gun illegally or otherwise engaged in criminal activity,” wrote Judge Kathryn Grill Graeff. “Because the officers here stopped appellant based solely on his possession of a gun, without reasonable suspicion that he was possessing the gun illegally or otherwise involved in criminal activity, they did not have reasonable suspicion to stop him. The stop, therefore, violated appellant’s Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable seizures.”

“The Supreme Court’s Bruen ruling in 2022 has shifted the dynamic for police in states where statutes presumed people carrying firearms were up to no good,” Gottlieb observed. “That’s changed, and law enforcement, along with local prosecutors, need to get up to speed on this issue. Hicks could not be searched merely because he had a firearm, for which he was licensed. That’s a step too far, which the court recognized. Armed citizens do not give up their