Trump's week in review: World Vision grants; birth tourism ban; organ procurement group decertified

2. DOJ sues Maryland county prohibiting guns near places of worship

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that it is filing a lawsuit against the Washington suburb of Montgomery County, Maryland, over Expedited Bill 23-26, which prohibits people from carrying a gun within 100 yards of “a place of public assembly.”

The term “place of public assembly” applies to places of worship, schools, parks, libraries, hospitals, recreational facilities and childcare centers. 

The DOJ maintained that Expedited Bill 23-26 “violates the Second Amendment by prohibiting law-abiding citizens from possessing firearms in daily life.” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon stressed that “the Second Amendment does not allow local governments to ban law-abiding citizens from carrying firearms in public places as they go about their daily lives.”

“Montgomery County makes it almost impossible for a law-abiding citizen with a valid carry license to walk down the street and avoid these exclusion zones,” she added. “The Civil Rights Division will not stand idle while Montgomery County tramples the rights guaranteed to law-abiding citizens by the Second Amendment.” 

Expedited Bill 23-26 is also the subject of a separate lawsuit filed last week by Silver Spring Jewish Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, which characterizes the measure as a violation of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as well as the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

The Orthodox Jewish synagogue alleged that the law violates their religious freedom because “Jewish law requires Jews to defend themselves when necessary.”