by WorldTribune Staff, August 2, 2026 Non-AI Real World News
An Orthodox synagogue and its rabbi filed a federal lawsuit on July 30 that challenges Montgomery County, Maryland’s newly enacted ban on carrying firearms within 100 yards of houses of worship.
The plaintiffs argue that Expedited Bill 23-26 violates their First, Second, and Fourteenth Amendment rights by preventing congregants from exercising their religious duty of self-defense amid rising antisemitic threats.
The Silver Spring Jewish Center and Rabbi J. Menashe Shapiro filed the action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, challenging the Montgomery County Expedited Bill 23-26 which bans licensed gun holders from possessing firearms in or within 100 yards of “places of public assembly,” including houses of worship, schools, and parks.
Shapiro, who serves on the synagogue’s security committee, said the county’s ordinance would dismantle the congregation’s existing security preparations.
“It is important that we be able to protect ourselves,” Shapiro told JNS. “Especially since Oct. 7, but as recent as last month, we’ve faced threats. This law makes it impossible to be prepared.”
“Our lawsuit specifically challenges two things: the ban on carrying in houses of worship and the 100-yard perimeter,” Shapiro told JNS, adding that the ordinance “also violates our religious beliefs.”
He argued: “Jewish law requires Jews to provide for their own security, and that means carrying firearms when necessary. I wish it weren’t necessary, but it is and we must.”
Shapiro also said the 100-yard restriction would make it virtually impossible for some residents to legally travel while carrying a firearm.
“As a personal example, in order for me to get from my house to the synagogue at which I usually daven, I pass within 100 yards of two public schools, one private school, two parks and three other houses of worship,” he said.
“Members of the Jewish community pleaded with them that this presented a fundamental threat to our safety, but it fell on deaf ears,” Shapiro told JNS. “Now we turn to the courts for relief.”
According to the lawsuit, the synagogue organized an armed volunteer security team after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel. The filing also references an October 2024 assault on a visibly Jewish congregant outside the synagogue and an incident on June 9 in which an unknown individual allegedly attempted to enter the building.
The U.S. Department of Justice issued a separate warning letter giving county officials a strict deadline to agree not to enforce the rule at houses of worship or face a federal lawsuit.
