The Supreme Court refused Monday to hear a challenge to Maryland’s handgun licensing requirement after gun rights advocates said it ran afoul of the Second Amendment.

Atlantic Guns Inc. and Maryland Shall Issue along with other Second Amendment advocates asked the justices to review a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding Maryland’s licensing scheme.

The challengers said the state’s bar on an individual obtaining a handgun is “ahistorical and burdensome” since it involves a “two-step licensing and registration scheme for acquisition and possession of a handgun for self-defense.”

They cite the high court’s ruling in 2022 in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen where the justices held that any gun control law must be consistent with the nation’s traditions dating back to the founding in order to be upheld.

Maryland’s Attorney General Anthony Brown urged the justices not to take up the case, arguing that the law is consistent with the Bruen decision, which noted that states can have permitting laws so long as they have objective requirements.

“Maryland’s handgun qualification license law meets Bruen’s criteria for a constitutional shall-issue scheme,” he wrote.  “Maryland’s licensing law has not been ‘put toward abusive ends’; it does not impose ‘lengthy wait times,’ ‘exorbitant fees,’ or any other unnecessary burdens.”

Maryland requires a resident to get a handgun license to possess a firearm.

In order to get a license, an individual must get fingerprinted, attend a training course, go to a range, and eventually take an additional background check. This is all at their own expense and takes a month or longer to accomplish, according to court documents.

After that, an individual must satisfy the state’s registration requirement for a handgun once they get the license. That can take a seven-day period, the challengers said.

“Compliance with the HQL Requirement places significant burdens on possession and acquisition of a handgun unknown at the Founding and is an outlier even in modern times. Failure to comply may result in fines, imprisonment, and the permanent loss of firearm rights,” the petition read.

But the high court refused to hear the case.

It would have taken four justices to vote in favor of hearing the case for oral arguments to have been scheduled.

• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.