Gun rights group Maryland Shall Issue is accusing gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety of violating the amicus process in its effort to support a Montgomery County law banning guns within 100 yards of places of public assembly.

The group filed an opposition with the U.S. District Court against Everytown earlier this month. Everytown had filed its motion to introduce its amicus brief after Maryland Shall Issue submitted an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order against the county law, calling it unconstitutional. A decision on that motion is still pending.

In the opposition, Maryland Shall Issue president Mark Pennak wrote that Everytown “abused” the amicus process, using it to make additional arguments the county couldn’t make due to a page limit requirement by the District Court. The group also accused Everytown of filing its amicus brief at the last minute in order to hamper any response.

“They broke the rules,” Pennak told DCist/WAMU.

Everytown did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The county attorney’s office says it cannot comment on pending litigation.

As of Tuesday, the U.S. District Court judge presiding over the case had not yet made a ruling.

Pennak has also criticized the legislation for extending the ban to concealed carry permit holders (an earlier version of the bill had provided an exemption). He says the idea that these permit holders are a threat to public safety is “utter nonsense.”

“Law abiding citizens who’ve been carrying permits have been thoroughly vetted by the state police.  They are not the problem,” Pennak said.

Councilmember Gabe Albornoz, who sponsored the legislation, argues that the existing vetting process is not enough and that firearms may be more accessible after a Supreme Court ruling last year. In a victory for gun rights advocates, a decision last summer struck down a New York law restricting the carrying of concealed firearms in most public spaces. Shortly after that decision, Maryland’s governor at the time, Larry Hogan, ordered state police to drop a similar provision in Maryland requiring a ‘good and substantial reason’ for granting concealed carry permits so as not to run afoul of the Supreme Court ruling.

“It stands to reason that we have to be cautious in areas of public gathering,” Albornoz told DCist/WAMU. “People should know that they should come to an area of public gathering and feel safe knowing that the person next to them isn’t carrying a weapon.”

Albornoz declined to comment in detail on Maryland Shall Issue’s allegations against Everytown, but added that the involvement of a national organization like Everytown in local legislation is appropriate in light of mass shootings across the country over the past year.

2022 saw one of the highest numbers of mass shootings on record, including  one in a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York that killed 10 people, and another at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas that killed 19 students and two teachers.

Albornoz also says after consulting with the state’s attorney’s office and legal experts, he and other councilmembers continue to stand by the law’s constitutionality.

Pennak for his part believes last year’s Supreme Court decision should ultimately be found to support his organization’s view that the law is unconstitutional and should be struck down.

This legislative session, Maryland lawmakers are moving to pass various gun control measures, including the Gun Safety Act of 2023 — a statewide bill similar to the existing county law.