The Liberty Daily 
(The Daily Caller)—A liberal stronghold near the nation’s capital received a legal warning shot from the Justice Department Thursday regarding an ordinance banning the carrying of firearms in houses of worship.
Democratic Montgomery County, Maryland, Executive Marc Elrich signed Bill 23-26 into law Monday, updating the county’s ordinances in response to an April 28 ruling by the state Supreme Court that struck down some of the county’s previous legislative provisions regarding firearms. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon posted a letter sent to the Washington, D.C.-area county Thursday, warning that the provisions barring firearms from places of worship – even those that granted permission for people to carry firearms – run afoul of the Second Amendment.
“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 a Thursday letter emailed to top county officials. “By disarming religious congregants during worship, Montgomery County infringes on such congregants’ ability to defend against such attacks.”
The letter reminded the D.C.-area county about the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Wolford v. Lopez, which invalidated a Hawaii law containing multiple provisions restricting the carrying of firearms. Hawaii passed the law as a 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 county also banned carrying firearms near schools and parks.
Elrich did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation regarding the letter from the Justice Department.
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.
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.
The Civil Rights Division has challenged multiple state and local laws that it says infringes on Second Amendment rights. Among the cases attorneys with the office have filed are litigation against bans on modern semiautomatic firearms in Virginia, the District of Columbia and Denver, Colorado, a magazine ban imposed by the state of Colorado and a ban on Glock pistols enacted by California.
