Ed, I notices in the comments for that Examiner article that you seem to believe that a MD Permit to Carry a Handgun is for CONCEALED Carry only.
You are, in fact, wrong.
Nowhere in the MD state statutes regarding their permit does it require a permit holder to carry concealed. In fact, in any of the rural counties, people with MD-PCHs do OC occasionally, and it is 100% legal if you have the "Pikesville Permission Slip". And the card is called a "Maryland Permit to Carry a Handgun". It's sort of like a PA-LTCF, only it's impossible for "normal citizens" to get, has a TON of restrictions, and comes in about 200 different classes, depending on why you got it.
Permits for "unrestricted carry" (meaning they are not job-specific) are more rare than Libertarian Tea Party Constitutionalists in the PRM...
However, in the 4 URBAN counties, and in most of their municipalities, they have passed codes or ordinances that prohibit "public display of a firearm", which effectively prohibits ANY sort of OC--even if you have a permit. In fact, in some jurisdictions of MD, the local constabulary has let it be know that EHOC (as a legal, 1A-protected form of protest) will be met with with charges of "Disturbing the Peace" and "Attempting to Induce Public Panic", because they believe that even the mere sight of a piece of plastic or leather molded in a shape to hold a firearm my cause panicked stampedes of bleating Soccer Moms and Milquetoast Yuppies.
Besides, the idea that a Citizen might actually attempt to engage the system in a meaningful manner by educating the MD public to the fact that they have been lied to for decades, and have been getting politically raped for nearly 4 centuries is simply unacceptable to the "powers that be" in MD.
The cognitive dissonance that TRUTH creates in MD often can be, in fact, a direct threat to the Authority of the State, and will generally NOT be tolerated--by either the slavemasters in Annapolis and Pikesville, nor will it be seen as acceptable behavior by the majority of the brainwashed sheeple in MD who actually seem to revel in their statutorily enforced victim-hood.
Apparently the executives and council members of the 4 Urban Counties think that the mere sight of a law-abiding citizen is so potentially panic-inducing in their sheeple constituencies that it needed to be banned.
But the fact is, that in the VAST majority of MD (All the Eastern Shore counties, and all of the counties west of Montgomery County) OC is technically legal if you have a MD-PCH...
You have to remember, MD has no "State Preemption". In fact, the law in MD is actually set up to ENCOURAGE localities to pass laws that are more restrictive than State Law, and it is the policy of the Governor, AG, MSP, and many of the State Legislators to support local laws that are so egregiously unconstitutional that they know they wouldn't have a snowballs chance in the State Legislature...
Could OCing in a MD county or city that DOES NOT prohibit it (and therefore it is perfectly legal) get you arrested and get your MD-PCH revoked? Possibly yes. Being punished and persecuted in MD for NOT COMMITTING A CRIME except exercising one's own free will and Constitutional Rights seems to be a favorite pass time of the MSP and the District Courts.
But we have seen (in the case of Anthony Graber) that although some LEAs in MD consider "contempt of cop" to be justifiable reason to illegally obtain a warrant, steal personal property, illegally detain and imprison someone, lie to district judges and the media, and falsify court records, SOEMTIMES the Judges in MD Courts actualy follow Rule of Law, and will put MD LEAs in their place and let them know that if they are going to abuse their authority, they should at least do it using laws that actually exist, rather laws that they make up on the spot...
What it boils down to is this: the legality of OC in MD is locally determined by the Constitutionality of local LEA's attitutes and the fundamental legitimacy of local governments. But it only applies to those anointed few who have a State-Approved Permission Slip from Pikesville.
In other words, if you live in MD and want to carry in public (OC or CC), you either need to be a HUGE political contributor to the Governor; an attorney, pharmacist, jeweler, or money courier that is "in good" with the MSP; or a frothing anti-gun elected official like Senator Babs Mikulski or State Rep. Bobby Frosh...
Remember, in MD, they spell "Justice" with two "u"s in Annapolis and Pikesville because that is who they believe it applies to... (JustUs)
