Synagogue appeals ruling that members on foot can't carry guns within 100 yards of 'public assembly'

A Maryland Orthodox Jewish synagogue challenging Montgomery County's ban on guns within 100 feet of any "place of public assembly," such as schools, parks, and other houses of worship, asked the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to block the ordinance after a federal judge, who otherwise sided with the synagogue, denied that relief based on "legal error."

Silver Spring Jewish Center members and Rabbi J. Menashe Shapiro must walk to synagogue on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays due to their religious beliefs, leaving them vulnerable to antisemitic attacks.

The threat isn't hypothetical, the motion for preliminary injunction says, noting an October 2024 incident where "a visibly Jewish member was attacked just outside the building" and a June 2026 incident where "an unknown individual attempted to gain entry."

U.S. District Judge Deborah Chasanow, nominated by President Clinton, blocked the county's firearm ban in places of worship as applied to the plaintiffs, finding them likely to succeed on First and Second Amendment grounds, but inexplicably characterized their challenge to the 100-yard ban as a facial challenge with a higher threshold, the motion says.

This is despite the fact that Chasanow, who has senior status due to her age, previously recognized that plaintiffs were "seek[ing] relief only for themselves" and thus needed need only "to succeed on an as-applied challenge."

Religiously diverse Montgomery County, which suffered a major loss at the Supreme Court last year over its infringements on religious liberty in public schools, "did not attempt to justify the 100-yard rule with historical evidence; agreed that the same licensed carriers could carry the same handguns along the same streets, so long as they drive; and did not oppose relief within the 100 yards surrounding Plaintiffs’ synagogue," the motion says.