Overview
- The Silver Spring Jewish Center asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit this week to enjoin enforcement of Montgomery County’s rule that bars firearms within 100 yards (reported as 300 feet) of places of public assembly as applied to its members.
- Plaintiffs filed the appeal after a federal judge in September granted a limited preliminary injunction letting permit holders carry inside the synagogue but left the pedestrian buffer intact.
- The synagogue says the buffer uniquely burdens Orthodox worship because members must walk to Sabbath services and that recent local attacks and a 2026 attempted entry show a concrete need for armed self‑defense.
- Legally, the appeal argues the district court wrongly treated the challenge as a facial attack and that the county has not shown relevant historical analogs required by the Supreme Court’s Bruen test to justify a 100‑yard rule.
- The Fourth Circuit has ordered Montgomery County to respond and its decision could determine whether the buffer stays in place, a ruling that could affect other local ‘‘sensitive places’’ rules and religious‑liberty lawsuits in the county.