The Trump administration’s Department of Justice filed suit Monday against Montgomery County, Maryland — a liberal stronghold just outside Washington, D.C. — over a sweeping gun ban that prohibits carrying firearms within 100 yards of churches, even when church leadership grants permission.
The lawsuit targets Bill 23-26, signed into law July 27 by Democratic County Executive Marc Elrich, which creates vast gun-free zones around thousands of locations across the county.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon posted a warning letter to the county Thursday, signaling the DOJ would not tolerate the county’s attempt to disarm law-abiding citizens at their places of worship.
“Congregants have a right to protect themselves and their community. The Second Amendment doesn’t stop at the church door.”
The complaint, filed in United States District Court for the District of Maryland, invokes the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Wolford v. Lopez, which struck down a similar law in Hawaii. DOJ attorneys argue Montgomery County cannot rebut the presumption that its law is unconstitutional.
“The nation has no ‘tradition of banning firearms in places of worship,'” the complaint states.
Montgomery County signed the bill in response to an April 28 ruling by Maryland’s Supreme Court that invalidated some of the jurisdiction’s previous firearms restrictions. Rather than comply with the constitutional mandate, county officials doubled down — creating exclusion zones so large that Dhillon says they make it “almost impossible for a law-abiding citizen with a valid carry license to walk down the street and avoid these exclusion zones.”
A spokeswoman for Montgomery County declined to comment on pending litigation.
History teaches us that people are particularly vulnerable to armed attacks during worship. That is why @CivilRights Division @TheJusticeDept is acting quickly to challenge Montgomery Co., MD’s law disarm congregants in houses of worship that permit firearms. pic.twitter.com/z85r04ohbW
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) July 30, 2026
The stakes are real. History shows worshippers are uniquely vulnerable to attack.
In December 2019, an armed parishioner in Texas fatally shot a shotgun-wielding assailant who opened fire in the West Freeway Church of Christ. The attacker had already taken the life of a member of the church’s armed security team and a deacon before the armed congregant stopped him.
In 2015, nine people lost their lives in a Charleston, South Carolina, church attack. A Mormon church in Grand Blanc, Michigan, was targeted in September 2025 when a man rammed his vehicle into the building and opened fire on congregants.
Two gunmen targeted a San Diego mosque in May, only to be engaged by an armed security guard. The Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh was attacked by an assailant in October 2018.
The Civil Rights Division’s message is clear: Montgomery County’s attempt to create a patchwork of gun-free zones around houses of worship — regardless of what faith leaders want — will not stand.
“The Civil Rights Division will not stand idle while Montgomery County tramples the rights guaranteed to law-abiding citizens by the Second Amendment,” Dhillon said in the DOJ release.
The Supreme Court of Maryland issued its decision today in our challenge to the Montgomery County ordinance that basically banned carry by permit holders through out the County. On that issue we completely prevailed and the County lost. Specifically the Court held that the…
— Maryland Shall Issue (@MD_Shall_Issue) April 28, 2026
