The Montgomery County Council will consider a bill that would further restrict where people could carry firearms in the county. The bill is a response to a Supreme Court ruling last month which struck down certain limitations on concealed carry permits.

The legislation, introduced by council president Gabe Albornoz on Tuesday, changes existing law by restricting even permitted carriers from possessing a firearm within 100 yards of a public assembly. The bill would also expand the current definition of “places of public assembly” to include both public and private areas, like a park, a place of worship, a library, a hospital, or a conference center, among other places.

State law already prohibits permit carriers from bringing guns into schools, state buildings (not county buildings), state parks, and other areas.

“We should not have to worry about these things when we go to the movies, or we go to our places of worship, or we go to the mall,” Albronoz said during a press briefing on Monday. “This is at least an attempt to help our residents feel more at ease, that the laws we’ve had in place within the state of Maryland and here locally in Montgomery County — which are among some of the toughest gun restrictions across this country, which are overwhelmingly supported by our residents  — remains in place despite what has transpired at the Supreme Court.”

In New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, the Supreme Court struck down a New York law requiring individuals to provide a “proper cause” for a permit allowing them to carry a gun in public. The Court’s first significant decision on gun rights in nearly a decade, the ruling had a direct effect on Maryland, where a similar law requires individuals seeking gun permits to provide a “good and substantial reason” for why they need to carry a concealed handgun. Last week, in light of the Supreme Court decision, Gov. Larry Hogan directed state police to immediately stop using the “good and substantial” standard when granting Wear and Carry permits, claiming that continued enforcement would be unconstitutional.

John McCarthy, State’s Attorney for Montgomery County, joined Albornoz in a press briefing on the new legislation on Monday, throwing his support behind the bill. He said he did not agree with the Supreme Court’s decision, but that the bill coming before the council is still consistent with the ruling, which allows for restrictions on permit-holding gun owners in specific areas.

“I am totally aware that we have limited authority on the local level to regulate this area,” McCarthy said. “I think that what is being proposed here, as a middle-ground, stop-gap measure is probably the most we can do here. We’re going to have to turn to our state legislature for broader controls across the state.”

In Annapolis, leaders of the state’s Democratically controlled General Assembly are looking to New York as they work to pass legislation that would mitigate the effects of the Supreme Court ruling. Shortly after the New York law was ruled unconstitutional, New York’s state legislature passed a bill that restricts concealed carry in “sensitive locations” like schools and houses of worship, and requires that private property owners expressly allow a person to bring a concealed firearm onto their property.  The measure also expanded eligibility requirements for concealed carry permits. Maryland’s General Assembly isn’t due back for its next session until January 2023 (when the state will have a new governor, as Hogan reaches his term limit.), and Democratic leadership has pledged to have gun restriction legislation on the docket.

According to McCarthy, the council’s bill is also aimed at reducing random gun violence in the county — citing that the number of gun violence incidents in the county are nearly double what they were at this time last year.

“Sometimes things can escalate out of hand very quickly, and the presence of guns in these circumstances…when something is not premeditated but somebody just loses a temper and has access to handgun in the settings that [Albnornoz’s] bill addresses, I think we can reduce random violence as well,” McCarthy said.

A public hearing for the bill is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, July 26.