The New Civil Liberties Alliance has filed a lawsuit challenging Montgomery County, Maryland’s Expedited Bill 23-26, which bans licensed firearm holders from carrying weapons within 100 yards of houses of worship and other places of public assembly. Representing the Silver Spring Jewish Center and Rabbi J. Menashe Shapiro, NCLA argues the law violates the First Amendment’s free exercise and establishment clauses, the Second Amendment right to bear arms, and the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection guarantee. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, seeks a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction to halt enforcement immediately. NCLA contends the measure is even more restrictive than a Hawaii law recently struck down by the Supreme Court in Wolford v. Lopez, and that it impermissibly interferes with religious communities’ ability to defend themselves amid rising anti-Semitic attacks.