Silver Spring synagogue sues Montgomery County over firearms law

A Silver Spring synagogue is suing Montgomery County over a firearms bill that went into effect Monday, arguing that its prohibition on guns within 100 yards of public assemblies, including religious services, puts the congregation at increased risk of antisemitic attacks.

“It really is just an irrational law that only serves to make it difficult for people in these particular places of worship to be able to defend themselves,” said Jacob Huebert, an attorney with the New Civil Liberties Alliance, an Arlington, Virginia, nonprofit legal organization representing the synagogue in the lawsuit.

In the suit filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday, the synagogue and its rabbi argue the ban is unconstitutional and ask the court for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction to prohibit the county from enforcing the part of the new law that limits firearms near houses of worship.

But that part of the law is not new, county officials said. They said it was in the county code before the council updated its firearms law last month.

In an email statement to The Banner on Friday, Council President Natali Fani-González said the provision banning firearms within 100 yards of public assemblies has been in place “for decades” and that the new law did not change this provision. The law also does not preclude congregations from hiring professional security officers who may carry firearms.

“As elected leaders, it’s our responsibility to implement commonsense measures to help safeguard our residents and first responders from the growing epidemic of gun violence,” Fani-González said.

The Silver Spring Jewish Center, led by Rabbi J. Menashe Shapiro, includes an Orthodox synagogue and religious school on Arcola Avenue in the historically Jewish neighborhood of Kemp Mill. According to the congregation’s website, it is one of the oldest Orthodox synagogues in Silver Spring.

The New Civil Liberties Alliance’s mission is to “protect constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State,” according to its website.

The legislation that passed July 21 and was signed into law Monday by County Executive Marc Elrich followed an April opinion in which the Maryland Supreme Court confirmed the county’s right to regulate firearms but also found that some of its regulations exceeded its authority or were preempted by state regulations.

In response to that opinion, the county shortened the list of places near which a person can carry guns and removed a restriction on purchasing and selling ghost guns in the presence of a minor. The changes do not significantly affect the county’s gun restrictions but tweak them to comply with the state’s laws.

Asked why the synagogue chose to file the lawsuit now, Huebert said his understanding was that the congregation was unaware of any previous firearms ban.

“It’s their understanding they have not been under that prohibition, and now they are,” Huebert said.

Alan Ronkin, the regional director of the American Jewish Committee, Washington, D.C., said in recent years more people in the Jewish community have considered private firearms as antisemitic incidents have increased.

“It is a tremendous burden for the Jewish community to have to secure our houses of worship,” Ronkin said. “I think there are many folks who are taking that one step further.”

Recent antisemitic incidents in the county include graffiti found at Greenwood Elementary School in Olney in May and at a synagogue, also in Olney, in February.

Huebert said that in October 2024 a congregant was attacked outside the Silver Spring Jewish Center and in June 2026 an intruder attempted to breach the building. In response to antisemitic and other hate incidents, local officials have offered security grants to nonprofits and houses of worship since 2018. Recipients can use them to hire guards or pay for cameras, among other security measures.

“It’s actually harder to get into my synagogue than it is to get into the airport,” Ronkin said.

He noted, however, that not all congregations can afford robust security and that, even with grant funding, it can be a financial burden.

Huebert said the Silver Spring Jewish Center has used volunteer congregants as security, because the congregation feels more comfortable with people from the community. He noted that, in at least one case, the congregation has hired professional security but that it is not standard practice.

Ronkin said synagogues are in a difficult situation.

“Ideally, we should not even have to be talking about firearms in a synagogue,” Ronkin said. “But I think that realistically, today, in the world that we’re living in, they’re going to have to find some sort of a middle ground.”