Attorneys representing the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and Maryland resident Donald S. Willey have submitted an appellants’ brief to the Maryland Supreme Court as part of their federal challenge to the state’s “red flag” law. The case, Willey v. Brown, was originally filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in August 2023.
Donald S. Willey, a 64-year-old Marine Corps veteran, has been in a long-standing dispute over alleged minor nuisance and zoning violations with officials in Dorchester County, Maryland.
Willey later became the subject of an Extreme Risk Protective Order (ERPO), which led to the confiscation of his firearms and ammunition after he was accused of making threats—claims that Willey has consistently denied.
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He was also subjected to an involuntary mental health evaluation. The federal lawsuit alleges that Willey’s constitutional rights were violated for nearly two weeks before his firearms were returned.
SAF and Willey are represented by attorneys from Maryland Shall Issue, led by Mark W. Pennak, and by a legal team from Bochner PLLC in New York, including Edward A. Paltzik, Serge Krimnus, and Meredith Lloyd.
While the federal lawsuit remains active, it hinges on the interpretation of Maryland state law. As a result, the U.S. District Court certified two legal questions for the Maryland Supreme Court to address. Once the state court defines the legal standards under Maryland’s ERPO law, the federal case will proceed. The key legal questions presented to the Maryland Supreme Court are:
- What legal standard does the term “reasonable grounds” imply under Maryland’s red flag law, codified in Title Five of the Public Safety Article of Maryland Annotated Code?
- Does the statute permit an ERPO to be issued based on a standard less stringent than probable cause?
“This case is about how so-called ‘red-flag laws’ can be weaponized against private citizens, and in order to flesh this out for our federal case, we’re asking the Maryland high court to define the meaning of ‘reasonable grounds’ in the state ERPO statute,” SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb explained.
“Answers to our questions will help make our case against Maryland’s law,” noted SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “Red flag laws are based on the inherently Orwellian belief that you can take actions against someone for an alleged crime that hasn’t occurred. Such laws authorize seizure and punishment for a crime nobody committed but which could occur at some place and time in the future. The concept is absurd.”
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