Jessica Russak-Hoffman | JNS

An Orthodox Jewish security volunteer in Silver Spring, Maryland, told JNS that he brought his gun to synagogue on Aug. 1 as usual, despite a new Montgomery County ordinance barring guns within 100 yards of houses of worship and other designated places of public assembly.

“I’d rather be judged by 12 than carried by six,” the volunteer said, of facing a jury rather than being killed and then carried in a coffin.

“We are still carrying,” the man, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told JNS. “That remains true, despite Montgomery County’s best efforts.”

Degan Bartels, public information officer for the Montgomery County Police Department, told JNS that officers will “enforce this the same way as every other law.”

“If someone calls 911 or they call the non-emergency with a complaint, that’s how it’s handled,” Bartels told JNS. “But we’re not going to be actively checking people when they’re going into church or synagogue.”

The Jewish volunteer in Silver Spring told JNS that one person opted not to bring his gun to synagogue Aug. 1.

“I don’t know if that will be true this week, as well,” the volunteer said.

The ordinance, which Marc Elrich, county executive, signed on July 27, prohibits firearms in or within 100 yards of houses of worship.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued the county Aug. 3 and filed 11 declarations from residents, who attend religious services and want to carry firearms for protection. The declarations state that the county “has left us defenseless against armed attackers.”

The federal government’s case is one of three lawsuits challenging the ordinance. The Silver Spring Jewish Center sued on July 30, and the nonprofit Maryland Shall Issue filed a separate 44-page complaint the day Elrich signed the ordinance.

The judge in the Jewish Center’s case delayed ruling on the plaintiff’s motion until the county had an opportunity to respond.

The judge gave the county until Aug. 17 to propose a briefing schedule.

Rabbi Menashe Shapiro, one of the plaintiffs in the case, explained that the judge did not think the lawsuit was timely or urgent.

“We vehemently disagree with them that this is neither urgent or timely,” he said. “We think it is both.”

Shapiro told JNS that keeping Jews safe is a very urgent and timely concern since Jew-hatred has surged after Oct. 7.

Another Orthodox security volunteer, who spoke to JNS anonymously, said that he brought his gun to a different synagogue and informed the off-duty police officer, which the congregation hires, that he was carrying a weapon.

“The officer knew I had it, because I’m not comfortable with him not knowing I had it,” the volunteer told JNS. “He was fine with it.”

He said that he heard rumors that police officers in the county won’t be enforcing the ordinance.

The second volunteer only knows of one person in his synagogue who did not carry his gun as usual.

“He did not want to take the risk,” the volunteer told JNS. “He didn’t want anybody to say he’s not abiding by the law.”

The second volunteer told JNS that his parents, who are Holocaust survivors, didn’t like when he got a gun, but “they were more upset, because they understood that we’re living in a time that people feel they need to have it.”

“It only continues to get worse and worse,” he said. “There are these violent acts of antisemitism all over the place. We’re vulnerable. These laws don’t enable us to really protect ourselves and our communities under these circumstances.”

Justice Department Sues Montgomery County for Banning Firearms in Synagogues

The U.S. Justice Department sued Montgomery County, Maryland, Aug. 3, asking a federal court to block the enforcement of new restrictions on carrying firearms in and around synagogues.

The lawsuit follows a Justice Department warning July 31 that the county should refrain from enforcing the ordinance against religious congregants or face a legal challenge.

Jacob Huebert, an attorney for the Silver Spring Jewish Center, which is suing the county, told JNS that the synagogue is “pleased that the Justice Department is joining us in the fight against this unconstitutional ban.”

Expedited Bill 23-26, signed on July 27, prohibits firearms in or within 100 yards of houses of worship, parks, schools, libraries and other “places of public assembly,” exempting law-enforcement officers and hired security guards.

The Justice Department said the ordinance’s “prohibitions effectively prevent carrying of firearms throughout much of the county without a legitimate purpose.”

The government stated in court filings that “as a practical matter, the enormous scope of the Exclusion Zone makes it almost impossible for a citizen to walk through town to shop, to dine or engage in any other common activity of daily life without likely entering the Exclusion Zone multiple times in a single trip, and thereby, becoming a criminal.”

The prohibited locations encompass “at least 10,000 parcels comprising over 7,900 acres,” or more than 26% of the county, before accounting for the buffer zones, according to the filing.

“The ban on firearms in places of worship, where the place of worship welcomes firearms, places a uniquely unsupportable burden on the right to bear arms,” the Justice Department stated in the filing. “If there is any place where people are entitled to feel safe and to defend themselves, it is at a place of worship.”

The lawsuit accuses county law-enforcement agencies of engaging in practices that violate the Second Amendment, and requests preliminary and permanent injunctions barring enforcement of the provisions.

“I hope we win,” Jack Leeb, a police psychologist who conducts gun-safety courses in the local Jewish community, told JNS. “I’m sure the socialists here in Montgomery County will come up with some other way to infringe on our rights. It’s what they do.”